Slytherins Do It Better
by wynterlove
Summary: Draco Malfoy wants a life of his own. Astoria Greengrass wants him all to herself. Blaise Zabini wants what is rightfully his. And what a Slytherin wants, a Slytherin gets.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Draco Malfoy pushed open the glass door of the restaurant and stepped inside, brushing the snow off his shoulders. He headed to the bar and ordered a Firewhiskey. Looking down at his watch, it was ten minutes pass six already.

'He's late,' Draco thought irritably. Sighing, he picked up his glass and sipped the golden liquid, turning to glance at the door. A tall, dark man entered the restaurant, pulling off his black cloak in one sift motion. Draco smirked and turned back to face the bar, and felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Zabini," he said.

"Malfoy, fancy seeing you here," Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy's childhood friend said, acting as if their meeting was just a mere coincidence, not planned.

Draco Malfoy rolled his eyes and and returned to his Firewhiskey as his best friend ordered one for himself. Tipping the remainder of the firewhiskey down his throat, Draco signalled the bartender for another glass. He turned to Blaise.

"Did you bring it?"

Blaise reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet bag marked with the Gringotts seal. It clinked cheerfully as he set it down on the polished mahogany counter. Draco picked it up and glanced inside quickly.

"This can't be all of it."

Blaise frowned. "The bloody goblins wouldn't let me take out the full amount. I'll get the rest to you later."

Draco lifted a manicured eyebrow "I need all of it, or the job won't get done."

"C'mon Malfoy, I'm your best friend! Give me a break here, money's been pretty tight ever since the Ministry consficated all the dirty money."

"Fine. But she won't like it, you know."

"Who won't like it?"

A voice like cold silk came from behind them. Turning around, they came face to face with a blond goddess with piercing green eyes.

Draco greeted Astoria with a kiss on each cheek.

"I thought you were in France," Blaise said in an accusing tone.

"I just returned," Astoria replied, picking up Draco's glass and downing his drink. "What were you two on about?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Business. Nothing that concerns you," Blaise replied.

"Just because it doesn't concern me, doesn't mean I'm not interested."

"Just because you're interested doesn't mean we'll tell you," Blaise shot back.

This is the problem with all members of the upperclass pure-blood society; just because they're priviledged, they think they can just stick their snotty little noses on everyone's business.

Astoria pouted and linked her arms with Draco's. "You'd tell me, wouldn't you, Draco?"

Draco's mouth was set in a hard line. "Sorry, strictly business." He shot a warning glance at Blaise. "Stop being such a child, Zabini."

Astoria pouted for a few more minutes then decided to let it go. She knew Draco would never mixed business with his personal life and didn't expect him to start now.

"Very well, so aren't you going to buy me a drink, Draco?"

"If I do, would you leave us alone just for a moment?"

"I don't really have much choice, do I?" Astoria raised one eyebrow as she looked at a glaring Blaise.

"I promise it'll just be a minute, sweetheart."

Draco always call her using those silly meaningless endearments when he knew she was displeased. It was stupid and predictable, but very effective nonetheless. Draco ordered a martini for her and she sauntered off to the end of the bar, leaving Draco and Blaise in privacy.

Draco glanced sideways at Blaise. "What have I told you about talking business in front of her?"

Blaise rolled his eyes. "God, sorry. How is business anyway?"

"I think we're taking too many jobs . Calista keeps getting on me to work faster." Draco looked up at Blaise. "So you better get the rest of the money to me fast if you want your job done. Properly."

Blaise frowned. "Fine. God, you hitmen don't care about anything but money."

Draco wrinkled his nose at Blaise's choice of word; he knew he was a hitman, but those words coming out of Blaise's mouth sounded so plebeian. He preferred to be called an assassin.

"It can't be helped, you are hiring the best of the best." Draco smirked with pride.

Draco paused an frowned as he felt the silver pendant he wore around his neck on a chain flash hot, then cold.

"I have to go," he said, setting down his drink and pocketing the bag of coins. He headed over to Astoria.

"Sorry, darling. I have to take off. Have dinner with Blaise. I'll see you later."

He didn't bother to wait for a reply and exited the restaurant, pulling on his coat. He turned on the spot in the empty, snow covered street, and appeared in front of a sleek, glass building in Muggle London.

Draco didn't take notice of the muggles walking around him as he pulled out his wand. The strong magic that shimmered in the air ensured that the muggles couldn't see him or the building. Draco aimed his wand at the small silver plague that was theonly sign on the building. Engraved on the plaque was the same symbol he wore around his neck, a single cross within a circle. Draco cast a charm on the plaque and the doors slid open silently. He entered a bright, minimalist room and headed over to the steel counter. Heidi the receptionist, looked up and smiled pleasantly.

"Miss Archibald would like to see you in her office, Mr Malfoy," she said.

Draco nodded and headed over to the glass elevator opposite the counter. The doors slid opened and he entered, pressing the button that read '10'. Within a couple of seconds, he arrived at the 10th floor, and strolled down the long hallway to the door that read ''. He cast a securtiy charm on the doorknob and it opened.

Draco entered and pulled off his coat, dropping it on the leather sofa, then crossed over to the adjoining door to his partner's office.

"This better be good Calista, I was about to have dinner with Astoria."

"Don't worry, if it wasn't I wouldn't have summoned you," Calista replied without looking at Draco. She was currently crouched on the floor, her back to him, going through some of her old folders.

"Well, what is it?"

"Just give me a second, okay?!" Calista snapped. Draco was rather taken aback with his partner's tone. Blair was usually the patient one.

"Fuck! Where the hell is that piece of paper?!" Calista screamed, pulling out the whole drawer and throwing old folders around.

Hesitantly, Draco approached her. "Calista, are you alright?"

"No. No, I'm not."

"What's wrong?"

Calista didn't reply, though she just kept going around her office, looking for this 'paper'.

"Cal, tell me! Stop! Stop for a second, will you!" Draco grabbed her and turned her to face him. She squirmed and tried to move away, but he had her in a vice grip. Looking into her big navy blue eyes, he could see the panic, fear and disbelief in them. He knew then that something big must have happened.

"Calista, calm down, now tell me what happened."

"Someone tried to kill me today," Calista said in a shaky voice. Draco on the other hand looked at her oddly.

"Cali, darling, with a job like ours, we're bound to have people after our heads."

"No, you don't get it! This _man_, one person, not ten or twenty, tried to kill me and would have succeeded if it wasn't for my damn good luck! He almost killed me in one perfect shot, who could have done that? We're the only ones good enough."

"Who was he?" Draco asked seriously, all his previous calm composure gone.

"I don't know, but I saw a tattoo on the left side of his neck." She then stared at Draco right in the eye before continuing, "The same tattoo that man who tried to kill you three months ago had."

"What?!"

"So, I did some research on the tattoo, the two interlinked triangles symbol was too familiar, and guess what I found? It was the symbol of Alberte Mouraient, one of the founding fathers of our organization who was exiled over 600 years ago."

End chp 1.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Draco blinked.

"Alberte Mouraient? The creator of the killing curse 'Pasvis Mourra'?" he asked.

Calista nodded. "The very same. He, along with the six others that founded The Fraternity over 600 years ago, created The Codex of the Fraternity. We still use the curses and the potions they created today."

Draco agreed. He himself had used 'Pasvis Mourra' on a job just a few weeks ago. It was a lethal killing curse that was said to be worse than 'Avada Kedavra'.

"But what has all of this got to do with the people who are trying to kill us?" he asked.

Blair shook her head vigorously, as though trying to kill her mind, sending her long, ebony-black hair flying.

"I don't know! But I think it's all connected somehow."

She swooped down suddenly, picking up a piece of paper that was on the floor.

"Aha! Found it!" she cried out.

"What is it?" Draco asked.

"I was looking for the copy of the written statement you gave to S the day that man tried to kill you. I'm hoping to find some kind of clue," Calista replied while scanning through the sheet of paper in her hand. Draco moved to stand behind her and looked over her shoulder. There, written in the piece of paper, were no more than 2 short paragraphs of his statement, in exact words of what had occurred three months ago.

"I don't know about you, but I see nothing that can help us," Draco said.

"Me too." Calista sighed in defeat. "What now?'

"Okay, let's just put this on hold for awhile. We have another job," Draco said, opening the adjoining door and walking through to his office. Calista followed him.

"Another job? I think we already have enough. We still have to take care of the Wright case, not to mention the people that are trying to kill us..."

"Calista! Chill," Draco interrupted. "I'm doing this as a favour to a friend. It's a pretty straightforward job, anyway."

"Which friend?" Calista asked in a steely tone.

"Zabini," Draco replied, sitting down at his desk, and began to fill out a new folder for Blaise's job.

"Payment?"

"He's given me half of it. It's in my coat over there," Draco replied, nodding to his cloak on the sofa.

Calista rifled though it and pulled out the bag of coins.

"I'll take this down to Finances," she said.

"Hey, wait up. I have to take this to S for approval," Draco said, closing the file he'd just finished for Bliase's job.

They headed out the elevator.

"I'll meet you back here," Calista told him.

"Yeah. We need to talk about – "

"– the Wright case? Yeah, I've got a plan. We'll get started as soon as possible," Calista replied.

Draco stepped into the elevator that was heading up and glanced back at Calista, who was waiting for the second elevator to take downstairs.

"You think we should tell S about what happened today?" he asked.

"No, I don't think we should just yet."

"Yes, maybe it's best, he'll be asking too many questions anyway."

"Be careful, if he Legilimens you, try not to drift your mind to our previous conversation," Calista said hurriedly just in time to finish and see Draco giving her his signature smirk before he disappeared.

Footsteps echoed loudly against the well polished marble floor.

"Good afternoon Mr. Zabini," Blaise's grandfather's personal assistant, whose name Blaise couldn't seem to remember, nor does he bother to remember, greeted him with a wink.

He sure as hell did not know her name, but he damn right knew she's a slut, and the fact that she just flashed her red underwear to him, proved his theory. Blaise barely covered up his smirk before winking back at her.

"Oh, honey, I'm gay," he said, and turned around, striding towards his grandfather's office.

"I think you may need to hire a new assistant, Grandfather," he said as he entered.

Oreste Zabini turned around from his bookshelf.

"Ahh, Blaise. I trust you have finished the reports I gave you?"

"Sure," Blaise lied easily. He collapsed into one of the hard leather chairs in front of his grandfather's desk.

Oreste lifted his gold-topped cane and tapped the leg of the chair.

"Feet down, back straight," he barked.

Blaise glared and sat up properly.

"If you want to do proper business, you must learn proper etiquette," Oreste continued.

"Speaking of which, I will be travelling to France next month to sign a deal with a company. I suggest you accompany me. It will be a good learning experience for you," Oreste said, settling himself behind his desk and looking at Blaise down his nose.

Blaise suppressed a snort. Next month? He thought, Hopefully the old man will be dead before then.

Blaise looked down, examining his nails.

"Okay," he replied casually.

"Answer properly and maintain eye contact!" Oreste snapped.

Blaise lifted his head and looked Oreste in the eye.

"All right, Grandfather. It would be my pleasure to accompany you."

Oreste looked at his used-to-be favourite grandson unamused, and with disgust. To think that the young man in front of him was his pride and joy, the only person he felt he can leave his empire to peacefully, now a joke and an embarrassment.

"You may leave; I have no need of you anymore."

"Anything you wish, Grandfather," Blaise said mockingly, earning another glare from his grandfather.

"I don't even know why I bother with you anymore."

"Here we go again," Blaise muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes.

"You are an embarrassment! A disgrace! Do you have any idea the shame I have to face? The shame and hurt you cause with your reckless behaviour!"

"Oh yes, let's talk about how hurt and embarrassed you felt when I was the one who was cut off the family."

"I only did what I saw fit, what you deserved."

The two of them didn't even realise that they had stood up and moved closer to each other. Fire blazed in Blaise's eyes, they were full of hatred and betrayal.

"You weren't hurt, maybe humiliated, but to say you were hurt, that would assume that you actually have a heart, but we all know underneath all that Armani is just a whole lot of nothing, don't we?" Blaise snapped, and turned sharply on his heel.

He strode to the carved mahogany door and threw it open, revealing Oreste's assistant, who was obviously eavesdropping.

After sending her a dirty look, Blaise continued through the building to the Floo networks.

"Draco Malfoy's apartment!" he called out, and disappeared amongst the green flames.

Draco scribbled on the piece of parchment on his desk.

"Okay, so that's the Wright case taken care of. Now all we have to do is kill the fucking bastard," he said, setting down his quill.

Calista snorted from her place on Draco's couch.

"That's the easy part," she said, getting up.

Draco glanced at the clock on his desk, which read 2 am.

"It's late. You should get home," he told her.

Calista lifted an eyebrow. "Will you come with me?"

Draco smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I have to go home. Astoria's owl will probably be waiting with a howler, screaming at me about deserting her at the restaurant. Tomorrow night, I promise. We'll celebrate finishing the Wright case," he said, giving Calista a quick kiss.

"I'll see you in the morning, then," Calista answered as Draco headed to his fireplace to Floo home.

She blew him a kiss, and he responded with a smile as he disappeared.

Draco stepped out of a fireplace in his apartment and shook off his cloak.

"God, about time. I've been waiting for three bloody hours!" Blaise's agitated voice drifted from the couch.

"What do you want?" Draco asked, settling down next to Blaise.

"I want you to kill my fucking grandfather already!" he retorted.

End chp 2.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Draco stared at his best friend for a moment. He appeared dishevelled, his robe wrinkled with a few buttons opened and his face flushed, obviously from the alcohol. He looked tired, but his eyes were alive and gleaming dangerously. He looked like a mad man.

"Alright, so obviously something happened since our last meeting."

"Obviously!" Blaise snapped. "Here's the rest of the money. I don't care how, I don't care where or specifically when, I just want that old piece of shit dead! Soon!" Blaise said as he flung a bag of gold coins to Draco.

The heavy black bag lay on Draco's hand. He looked at it in confusion.

"I thought you said money's pretty tight recently."

"I have my ways and connections, why does it matter anyway? The agreement was that I pay half before and half after the job is done, right? Well, the whole payment's there, what's the problem, then?"

Draco leaned forward and placed the money bag on the coffee table.

"No problem," he replied. "Except your case must be approved by my boss first. It could take a while for us to...get the job done."

Blaise narrowed his eyes and leaned in towards Draco.

"I'm giving you a month," he said. "If it's not done by then, I'll give the job to someone else. I don't care if you're the best."

"I'll see what I can do," Draco replied. He spotted the open bottle of wine that Blaise had taken from his liquor cabinet and picked it up.

"The '74 Latour...I was saving this, you bastard," he said good-naturedly.

"I don't give a shit," Blaise replied, snatching the bottle back and pouring himself another glass.

Draco got off the couch and headed for his room.

"I'm going to bed. Are you staying over tonight?" he asked.

Blaise snorted. "I'll be moving in. I can't return to the Zabini Estate until the decrepit old man takes apologises and takes me back. Which he will, soon enough. That company needs me, and he knows it."

"Excuse me, I ordered a sandwich without tomatoes but as you can see, there are tomatoes on this sandwich!"

A short bald man with a handlebar moustache shouted to a scared-looking waitress.

"I'm sorry, sir-," she started, but the man didn't care.

"You're sorry? Oh, how easy it would be if everything could simple be resolved by saying sorry, you incompetent fool!"

"God, what a rude bastard," Calista whispered into her enchanted mouth piece discreetly while flicking through a magazine and sipping her coffee.

"David Wright, Muggleborn, Chief Executive of Gringotts Bank, short man with an even shorter temper." Draco's voice could be heard in her earpiece.

"I swear to Merlin, his eyes are turning red. Look at his face, it's purple."

By now, Wright had attracted the attention of almost everyone in the restaurant. After a while the yelling ceased and everyone went back to their own business.

"Show time," Draco said.

Calista nodded, smoothing back a stray strand of blonde hair into her neat upsweep and straightening her glasses. Both she and Draco were disguised by strong enchantments that changed their entire appearance and voices.

Draco, who was disguised as a tall, handsome brunette with an olive complexion, watched as David Wright vacated his seat and headed towards the bathroom.

Draco left his chair swiftly and followed him, then accidently-on-purpose bumped into Wright. Draco placed a hand on Wright's back as if to steady himself, at the same time muttering a curse using wandless magic.

"Oh, sorry, sir," Draco exclaimed, gripping Wright's elbow and steadying him.

"It's fine," Wright answered gruffly, his right hand coming up to grip his chest.

Calista smirked from behind her magazine. The plan was going perfectly. Draco had performed an extremely powerful curse that killed the victim almost immediately, making it look like the victim had suffered a fatal heart attack. It was an easy cover story, making this curse a favourite among many members of the fraternity.

By now, Wright had collapsed on the floor, with Draco hovering anxiously over him. Most of the patrons had stood up to see what was wrong and some of the restaurant staff had joined Draco around Wright.

"Give him some air!" Draco exclaimed and stood up.

"Is anyone here a doctor?" he called out in a perfectly panicked tone of voice, making sure to say doctor- this was a Muggle environment, after all.

It was Calista's turn now. She set down her magazine and strode over.

"I'm a doctor. Out of the way," she commanded in a business-like tone, pushing the crowd aside.

She crouched down by Wright and deftly unbuttoned his shirt, the attempted to 'perform' CPR. A hush fell over the restaurant as she continued to pump at the bastard's chest, silently cursing each time she had to press her lips to his.

By then, someone had called an ambulance, and the paramedics rushed in, and took over from Calista. Wright was pronounced dead, cause of death: heart attack.

The manager of the restaurant thanked Draco and Calista profusely for all they did. Eventually they left the restaurant, and as soon as they reached the familiar glass building, slapped each other high-fives.

"Mission accomplished," Calista said with a wide grin.

Draco and Calista, back to their normal selves, apparated back to the wizarding world, exactly in front of 'Le Ratatouille', an upscale French restaurant on the east side of Diagon Alley.

It was one of Calista's favourite restaurants and one of the most expensive restaurants in London. Each time they had just finished an assignment, they would go celebrate in one of their favourite restaurants. It was Calista's turn to choose the restaurant this time. They entered and a server approached them immediately.

"Bonsoir, Madamoiselle, Monsieur, will you be dining in together?"

"Yes, can we have a private room please and one of your best bottles of champagne," Draco said smoothly, shaking the server's hand, leaving a gold Galleon in his palm discreetly. Draco was about to turn around when he heard an all too familiar voice behind him.

"Draco? Darling, what are you doing here?" Astoria greeted with a dazzling smile, but her sharp eyes were fixed on Calista.

Draco smiled tightly and spoke through clenched teeth. "Astoria. I'm entertaining a client. This is Calista Archibald. Calista, this is Astoria –"

"– his fiancé," Astoria interjected.

Calista smiled brightly. "Oh, how wonderful! It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," Astoria replied smoothly, although her expression said otherwise.

Draco took a step closer to Astoria and spoke softly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm having dinner with some friends," she replied.

Astoria glanced at Calista, then back at Draco.

"I'll leave you two to your dinner, then. Goodbye."

Draco and Calista nodded back as the server appeared and showed them to their private room.

"I would like a house elf to serve us tonight, one who promises to take an Unbreakable Vow that he won't mention to anyone what he hears or sees in this room tonight," Draco told the server.

"Of course, sir."

As soon as the server disappeared, Draco threw his coat down on a chair.

"Fuck! What the fuck is she doing here?"

"Didn't you hear? She's having dinner with her friends," Calista said lightly, however Draco was unamused. However, before he could shoot back a reply there was a popping noise. The two of them glanced towards the door- a house elf stood in front of it in a bowed position.

"Let's do the charm first, shall we? Before we continue our delightful conversation," Calista said. She stood up and made her way towards the inferior looking creature. Linking her dragonhide-gloved right hand with the elf's, she performed the Unbreakable Vow.

After they had placed their orders and their champagne appeared, Calista looked at a grim Draco.

"What's wrong with you?" Calista inquired. "So your fiancée is here, so what? It's not like she knows."

Draco sighed and ran his hand over his face then hair; he looked exasperated. "I just hate having to face the in-laws again."

Their dinner ended early because Draco said he didn't want things to be more suspicious and Calista half-heartedly agreed. It was only 9 o'clock when Draco returned to his apartment, just after accompanying Calista home. He discarded his cloak and was about to make his way to the shower when a voice interrupted him.

"That was fast." Even in the dark he could easily distinguish Astoria's golden blond hair.

Draco frowned. "How did you get past the wards?"

Only Blaise and Calista could enter Draco's apartment without his permission. They were the only ones who knew everything about his life- including his true profession.

Astoria laughed hollowly. "We're engaged. Technically I own everything you own."

Draco sat down in the armchair opposite from her.

"How was your...business dinner? I trust everything went well?"

"It was perfectly adequate," Draco replied.

"Speaking of which, my parents are hosting a dinner party tomorrow night. You are expected to attend," Astoria said.

"Fine," Draco said shortly. "I'll pick you up from your apartment then."

Astoria nodded and stood, heading to the fireplace. Draco moved to stand by her.

"Black tie, I presume?"

"Of course," Astoria murmured, taking a pinch of Floo powder and stepping in.

"I'll see you then," she said.

Draco nodded and she disappeared.

Astoria Greengrass had just received an owl from her old friend Pansy Parkinson. The other girl had just returned from her trip to Switzerland with her fourth husband and Astoria bet Pansy was just dying to brag to her about her trip. She really didn't feel like hearing Pansy's annoying voice for three hours, nevertheless she went anyway. They decided to meet at 'Le Ratatouille', a restaurant Astoria personally didn't like. She stepped into the restaurant and was suddenly enveloped in none other than Pansy Parkinson's embrace.

"Astoria, darling! How I missed you," Pansy said.

"Pansy, it's good to see you again. How have you been?" Astoria asked out of politeness, not because she was interested.

"I've been wonderful. Come now, I've invited a few other close friends of ours." Pansy led them to a table filled with their closest friends.

"Great! I'll be there in a second, I'm just going to the bathroom first," Astoria said.

She turned around and spotted a familiar head of silver blond hair.

"Draco? Darling, what are you doing here?" she asked in a sickly sweet tone.

Astoria eyed the pretty woman with long black hair standing next to Draco. Of course, it was none other than the whore trying to steal her fiancé. She made the necessary small talk as Draco made the introductions, holding back her outrage as Draco introduced Calista as a client.

She watched through narrowed eyes as Draco and Calista headed into a private room.

It looked like another trip to France was in order.

End chp 3.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Draco looked up from his desk as Calista stuck her head into his office.

"S wants to see us now," she said.

They headed up to the elevator and up to the 11th floor, which consisted entirely of their boss' office. His receptionist waved them through. They stepped through the glass door into S's sleek, modern office.

S, which simply stood for Sylvestre, looked up as they entered; his black-framed glasses perched on the end of his nose.

"Draco, Calista, have a seat," he said, waving at the chairs in front of his desk.

S glanced down at what Draco recognised as Blaise's case file and looked back up at them.

"About Mr Zabini's case...I'm afraid I have to reject it," S began.

"Reject it?" Draco repeated. "Why?"

"Oreste Zabini is an important figure in the wizarding world. I'm afraid it may cause trouble if he simply...died," S said.

"This fraternity have previously killed many prolific figures as well. We've just killed David Wright yesterday; isn't he someone important?" Draco countered.

"That is completely different. David Wright was a Muggle-born; he was a nobody who only gained recognition through his work and sly ways. Oreste Zabini on the other hand...well, as a Malfoy you should understand the circumstances here. Surely the Zabini family would demand an investigation."

"We can make it look natural. He's had several stroke cases before."

"David Wright and Oreste Zabini; two powerful men in the wizarding world dead with just a short perid of time in between. What would the media say? How would society react? I'm sorry, Draco, but it's just too risky."

"We don't have to kill him now, maybe I can persuade the client to give us some time; three months should be enough, no?" Draco replied. He knew S was right, but this was his best friend who was asking the favour, he had to try at least.

"This fraternity is not just about getting the job done whenever the client wants, you know that Draco. We have to analyse the effect and how large that effect is going to be on the whole society."

"If you're worried about whether the Zabini Empire will fall because of this, then you shouldn't, my client has a plan."

S looked straight into Draco's eyes and said firmly, "The answer is still no, Mr Malfoy."

Draco and Calista left S's office dejectedly. They returned back to their offices on the 10th floor. Calista conjured up a cup of tea and placed it in front of Draco, who had collapsed onto his desk chair.

"Sorry," Calista said. "You know S's word is final."

Draco sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Blaise is going to kill me."

"I'm sure he'll understand."

Draco shook his head. "He's going to give the job to another agency."

Calista raised her eyebrows. "Well, then let them take care of it."

"No, you don't understand. No one can do as clean a job as The Fraternity. We have the advantage over all assassins; we're the ones that know all the special curses and potions our Founders created. I'm afraid if Blaise has someone else do it, they won't do a clean job. Then it'll be traced back easily to him. I just don't want him to get in trouble."

"There's nothing else to do, then."

Draco groaned in frustration. There must be something he can do to help Blaise. Doing it by himself, out of the Fraternity, was out of the question. S would easily detect his betrayal and would surely punish him for obeying his order.

"Why don't we move onto our next case for now." Calista's voice broke his train of thought.

"Next case?" Draco looked up to see Calista holding his attempted assassination folder.

"We haven't had time to do more research on this case."

"You mean the case where someone tried to kill both of us?" Draco asked, taking the folder from her.

"Yeah. I thought we could start with researching Alberte Mouraient. He was last seen in France."

"Yeah-600 years ago. Where the hell would we start?" Draco asked.

"The Archive Library," Calista said, standing up. "Come on."

She led the way to the elevators and they took it down to the basements where the Archive Library was located. It housed personal records, population databases, reference books on spells and potions and folders and information for every case the Fraternity had ever completed.

Calista and Draco wove their way through the ceiling-high shelves to the Reference section. After looking through some old encyclopaedias, which didn't reveal any additional information, they decided to check The Codex of the Fraternity. It was an ancient reference book complied by the 7 Founders of the Fraternity and contained curses and potions that were created by the Founders. The Codex was kept in a magic-prohibited chamber in the Library that was only accessible to S and the most senior or highly-ranked assassins.

Calista cast the security charm and they entered the chamber, where the Codex sat on the stand in the middle of the room. Draco flipped right to the back of the book where there was some information on the Founders. They squinted at the miniscule hand-written script and read.

One sentence jumped out at Draco. He pointed to the line.

"What is the Tuer Academy?"

Blair peered closely at the line. "It says here that after Alberte Mouraient was exiled, he went to France and established another assassination agency- the Tuer Academy."

"They must be another high-class agency like ours," Draco said.

"I've never heard of them before, though."

"Exactly why they must be professionals, like us. Either that or they actually don't exist anymore."

"We'll have to do more research; find out their whereabouts."

It took them all day to go through all the books on the 7 founders, and by the end of the day, they barely found anything. They started from the more obvious ones, books and papers connected straight to the founders. They tracked down all the information up to the living descendants. It was tricky, since they were assassins and some files were coded and encrypted. After going through another book and finding nothing useful, Calista groaned in frustration.

"Argh! I don't mind hard work, but hard work and no result is really pissing me off."

"This is tiring, what time is it, anyway?" Draco asked, standing up.

"7.30 pm. I'm so hungry."

"Shit! I'm sorry, Calista, but I have to go. I have a dinner party I have to attend."

Calista looked up. "With Astoria?"

Draco frowned. "Unfortunately."

He bent down and kissed Calista on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Draco adjusted his black bow tie and peered into the mirror, smoothing down his dress robes. When he was satisfied with his appearance, he picked up the corsage sitting on his nightstand and apparated to Astoria's apartment.

He arrived in her immaculate living room, just in time to see her step out from her bedroom, dressed resplendently in navy blue silk and chiffon dress robes.

Draco held up the corsage he'd bought- a single white orchid.

"Thank you, darling," she said, taking it and greeting Draco with a kiss.

Draco nodded. "Shall we get going?"

Astoria nodded to a single crystal goblet on her coffee table. "The Portkey should be leaving soon."

When it flashed blue, Draco and Astoria placed their fingers on the Portkey and were instantly transported to the Greengrass's mansion. Draco felt grateful for not eating anything beforehand or he might just have thrown up; he hated Portkey transport.

The Greengrass's mansion was pretty much just like other old rich pureblood mansions, with just a few differences in the detail. The walls were made out of weathered bricks that showed just how old the building really was. There were three stories to the house with many pillars to support it on the outside. Surrounding the mansion was a field of green grass that expanded seemingly forever, with barely any trees or bushes.

The magnificent double doors opened instantly as they arrived and a house elf stood on the side of the door with his head bowed down.

"Miss Greengrass, welcome home, your presence has been missed," the house elf said.

Astoria did not bother greeting the house elf; instead, taking Draco's arm, they walked inside the mansion and made their way towards the main dining room in the west wing.

End chp 4.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Draco and Astoria entered the parlour adjoining the dining room. The parlour, where pre-dinner drinks were served, was decorated opulently in rich, dark shades with floor-to-ceiling windows showing off the views of the gardens at night.

Draco spotted his parents chatting to Astoria's at the corner of the room.

"What the fuck are my parents doing here?" he whispered fiercely in Astoria's ear.

"Don't ask me, I didn't know they were coming!" she hissed back.

Narcissa Malfoy spotted them and waved them over. Draco and Astoria pasted smiles on their faces and headed over.

"Mother. Father," Draco said, greeting his mother with a kiss on the cheek and his father with a handshake, as Astoria greeted her own parents.

"Draco, m'boy!" Wilton Greengrass, Astoria's father, greeted Draco.

"Mr Greengrass, it's good to see you," Draco replied politely with a handshake. "Mrs Greengrass, a pleasure, as always." Draco placed a kiss on Esmerelda Greengrass's hand.

"Draco, Astoria, we were just discussing your wedding!" Esmerelda trilled excitedly. "Now, we still have to decide on a date. How's the 21st of August next year? That gives us about 9 more months to plan the wedding!"

"That sounds perfect," Astoria replied, slipping an arm possessively through Draco's.

Draco gave his parents and in-laws a charming smile before replying, "Any date sounds good to me."

"Well, that's just perfect, isn't it?" Esmeralda clapped her hands together in delight at Draco's response. Narcissa looked at her son with a large smile on her face, showing just how proud she was of him.

"We have to start planning the wedding soon, we have to make sure to get the best place available and that the wedding date does not clash with any others," Esmeralda continued.

"I was thinking of a traditional indoor wedding, in a place that can really show the unity of the

Malfoys and the Greengrasses," Narcissa said.

"Why not in France?" Astoria chimed in, "The Malfoys originated from France before they moved to England, and the Greengrass family do have several ancestors from France. It sounds ideal."

"Oh, it is, and I just know the place for the wedding, The Malfoy Château in south of France. It belonged to your great, great grandfather, Draco; it would be so lovely to have it there. Of course it is not as big as the Manor, but it should do," Narcissa said.

"I can't wait for the wedding already," Esmeralda said.

"Neither can we," Astoria said, before standing on tip toes and gave Draco a quick kiss on the lips.

"Well, I can assure you all that this is going to be the biggest wedding of the year," Lucius Malfoy said smugly. His eyes were trained hard on Draco, as if threatening him to make sure that the wedding will be the biggest event of the year, the century even.

Draco forced his way through the rest of the evening, making polite small talk with other guests, smiling and laughing when necessary. He returned home late that night after escorting Astoria home, to find Blaise snoring on his couch. Draco smiled to himself as he tread quietly around the couch, picking up stray pieces of Blaise's clothes and books. He loved his best friend, but sometimes Zabini was a slob that didn't deserve love.

Draco headed for his bedroom, loosening his tie and collapsed into bed.

Astoria stepped out of her bedroom, summoning the phone from the coffee table in the living room. She was a pure-blooded witch, but the old-fashioned ways of communication in the wizarding world couldn't compare to some Muggle inventions. She dialled a number and sat down on her upholstered damask settee.

"Golden Paths Travel, how can I help you?" the voice answered.

"This is Astoria Greengrass," Astoria replied.

"Of course, Miss Greengrass, I'll put you through to the manager immediately."

Astoria smirked as she examined her nails and waited. Everyone at that exclusive travel agency knew her.

"Miss Greengrass, it's a pleasure to hear from you," Marshall Jenks, the manager, answered.

"Mr Jenks, I need to book a flight to France," Astoria said.

"For what date would that be, Miss Greengrass?"

"As soon as possible would be nice."

"I have a flight leaving tomorrow afternoon to France, would that suffice?"

"That would be perfect."

"Will you be travelling alone?"

"Yes, I will."

"So, one business ticket to France it is then, anything else, Miss Greengrass?"

"That would be all, thank you."

"No problem, I hope you have a wonderful and safe trip."

Astoria smirked cruelly into the phone, this trip is definitely going to be anything but wonderful or safe, at least for the idiots who screwed up her plan royally,_ anyway. "I sure hope it will be eventful, Mr Jenks, good night." _

Calista bounded into Draco's office excitedly as he was yawning tiredly and taking a huge gulp of coffee.

"What's your problem?" Draco asked.

"I just talked to S and he's given us permission to take a week off and go to France for more research!" Calista said with a grin.

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Did you tell him why we're going and about our attempted murders?"

Calista waved a manicured hand dismissively. "Not the little details. I just said it was research for a case we're working on, and he said fine."

"Okay. When are we leaving?" Draco reached for his calendar.

"Next week."

"That should be fine. Should I arrange a Portkey?"

"No, don't worry. I'll take care of everything."

Blaise scoffed as he read the parchment in his hand. Three days, and his grandfather was already taking him back after that explosive argument. Zabini Industries was nothing without him.

Blaise dressed quickly and with a sweep of his wand, packed his belongings back into his luggage, then wrote a short note for Draco informing him he was returning to his family's estate. He left the note on Draco's coffee table and dragging his leather suitcase to the fireplace, Floo-ed away.

Draco returned home that night to find his apartment neat and empty. He read Blaise's note quickly and wondered when he should mention to him that he wasn't able to murder his grandfather anymore, after all. Perhaps it could wait until I return from France, Draco thought, dropping the note back on the table.

Suddenly there was a tap on his window and Draco turned to see a small eagle owl perched on his window sill. It was one of his father's owls; the animal was build for speed not strength, which was why it was small, unlike the large barn owls many wizards or witches used. Draco opened the window and the owl flew in, circling his living room once before dropping the letter onto Draco's hands.

Draco ripped the letter open and read its contents.

The letter was from his mother, stating that Astoria, Esmeralda and she were going on an unplanned visit to France for a few days or maybe a week to check out the wedding place. She was also wondering if Draco would like to come, although Astoria did not seem keen on the idea, she said, she wanted it to be an all girls trip and that Draco might be bored to death accompanying them to plan the wedding. Draco wrote a short letter back to his mother, telling her that Astoria is correct, besides he had work to do and for his mother to have fun and have a safe trip.

After sending the letter back to his mother, Draco took a shower and collapsed onto his bed, it had been a tiring and unpleasant week and somehow he had a feeling that the next couple of weeks or so were going to be even worse. Tomorrow, he had to start doing more research on Alberte Mouraient, and with that last thought, Draco drifted off to sleep.

Astoria tapped her foot irritably as she sat in the luxurious business class cabin of the plane bound for France. One row in front of her sat her mother and Narcissa Malfoy, chatting animatedly and not bothering to remain discreet. Astoria rolled her eyes as Esmerelda started talking about Portkey arrangements and custom charms for the wedding, and her voice echoed loudly in the confined space. Astoria didn't want to have to start explaining things to the Muggles around them, so she discreetly pulled out her wand and cast a Silencing spell.

She was pissed that somehow, Esmerelda and Narcissa had caught wind of her trip to France, and they had both decided to tag along, claiming it would be the perfect opportunity to check out the Malfoy Château. Her private trip to France had turned into disaster and she hoped she would be able to escape for a day to carry out her original plans.

Astoria glanced at her rose gold, diamond-encrusted watch impatiently, wondering when the damned plane was going to take off.

Calista Archibald woke up at Draco Malfoy's apartment; she'd been staying at his place for the past couple of days, ever since his fiancée left for France. It wasn't that she was some desperate gold digger after the Malfoy fortune or a home wrecker, she and Draco just sort of happened. They were partners, which meant they spent heaps of time together, they had the same interests and he happened to be extremely handsome, it was inevitable for them to not be together. Besides it wasn't uncommon in the upper-class society for couples to have a fling or two behind their betrothed's back.

Calista looked at the watch on the bedside table; it read 8.30am. It was past the time she should get up, so with a sigh she made her way to the shower. After she finished, she made her way to the living room to find Draco wearing black jeans and black cashmere sweater with a pile of books around him. He closed the book he was reading and went to pick up another one but stopped mid-air when he saw her.

"Morning," Draco said.

"Morning," Calista replied with a smile, "Doing your homework, I see."

"I went back to the office this morning to grab a few more files and books that might help us."

"Well, I've already arranged us a Portkey, we'll be leaving in a couple of days."

Draco nodded at the new found information, before resuming his work.

"Draco, aren't you afraid we might run into Astoria while we're in France?"

"Unlikely, she's off to see the Malfoy Château-"

"And, isn't one of the places we'll be investigating located in south of France as well?"

"Is it?" Draco asked. "I thought we were going to Le Mans."

"Well yes, but we're going to Marseilles first; it's where Alberte Mouraient grew up, remember?" Draco went quiet at Calista's explanation, the book on his hand abandoned. "Draco, what's wrong?" Calista asked, concerned at how silent Draco had become.

"Blaise is going to Marseilles in less than week's time; he has to accompany his grandfather for a meeting. Don't you think its odd how we'll all end up at Marseilles together?"

"It is coincidental. We'll have to wear disguises when we're in public. I suggest the Disguise charms?" Calista said.

"Yes. Did you register the Portkey under false names?" Draco asked.

"Of course." It was standard procedure in the Fraternity to use aliases whenever interacting with the public.

"Good. We'll go under aliases when we check into the hotel, too."

Draco ran his hand through his hair tiredly. "Look, I don't want to scare you, but my mother and Astoria's mother are in France as well. Maybe we should postpone our trip. I don't want to risk running into them."

Calista paled visibly. "That would not be good," she agreed.

They remained silent for a few more moments, thinking.

"Okay, look. I don't think we can afford to postpone this trip. S was already kind enough to let us take a week off. And frankly, the sooner we find out who's trying to kill us, the better," Calista said.

"We're just going to have to tread very, very carefully. Disguises and aliases at all times and leaving no traces behind. Nothing that can be traced back to us," Draco said.

"That can be arranged. Shall we head to the office now and get that all sorted? We'll have to pack some supplies to take along too...emergency potions, healing kits..." Calista murmured distractedly as she threw on her cloak.

Draco shrunk the pile of books and files and slipped them into his pocket, then pulled on his cloak as well.

"Let's go," he said, and led the way to the Floo.

End chp 5


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Draco and Calista Flooed right into the main entrance and reception area of The Fraternity office. They greeted the receptionist, Heidi, before heading into the elevator and took it down to the basement of the building. They strode into the large room, and split up in silent agreement.

Draco immediately headed for a large, mirror-fronted closet on the east wall of the room, the mirror panels sliding open silently with a wave of his wand. Draco took a navy blue suitcase from a nearby shelf and began to summon items from the closet, which housed rows and rows of clothing. A couple of Disillusionment Cloaks, protective dragon-hide boots and gloves, Shield Hats, cloaks and gloves packed themselves neatly into the suitcase.

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the room, Calista was standing by a long, metal counter. She had pulled down a leather briefcase from the wall storage and opened it, checking its contents. It was a standard kit that most Fraternity members took along on overseas trips.

Small, glass vials of potions were held in place by leather straps on the inside cover of the briefcase, and Calista ran her eyes over each label, going through a mental checklist in her mind.

Polyjuice potion, Essence of Dittany, Skele-Gro, Veritaserum, Draught of Living Death and Pepper-up Potion...good, they're all here.

Calista seized a couple of spare wands, enchanted mouth and ear pieces, a box of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, some Decoy Detonaters and a box of Bezoars, and threw them into the briefcase, before zipping it up and locking it with a complicated charm.

"That should be everything we need," she said, as Draco appeared next to her.

"We should drop these off back to my place or yours before going back to the office," Draco said.

"I'll take them to my place. The Portkey leaves from there anyway," Calista said. She took the suitcase from Draco and headed for the elevator with Draco just a few steps behind her.

They entered the elevator and stopped at the main entrance where Calista exited before giving Draco a wink, Draco replying with his signature smirk. Just before the elevator door closed again, a hand stopped it. Draco looked up and saw Heidi smiling brightly at him. "Draco, S just ordered me to tell you that he would like to see you in his office, now."

"Thank you," Draco said, without returning the bright smile that was still plastered all over Heidi's face.

"No problem." With that she removed her hand and the elevator doors closed.

Draco pressed the button at the top and was instantly transported to the 11th floor. He walked through a short hallway and opened the double doors of S's office. S was, as usual, sitting at his desk, going through a mountain of papers.

"Draco, come in," S said.

"I'm already in," Draco joked before sitting on the sofa in front of S. "Why did you call for me?"

S folded his hands in front of him before speaking calmly, "Draco, are you still helping your friend Blaise Zabini in assassinating his grandfather Oreste Zabini?"

Draco automatically looked confused, he was after all, a well trained assassin, one of the requirements in his field was to be an excellent liar.

"No, I'm not, after you refused to approve the case, I dropped it."

"Just as easily as that? Your friend didn't have any problems with your decision?"

"Your decision, not mine. Well, there was a little screaming and throwing of expensive wine bottles, but it's all good now," Draco lied easily.

"Then how do you explain the Portkey you reserved to Marseilles two days from now?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Mr. Zabini will be attending an annual meeting in Marseille approximately a week from now. Now, I've given Calista my consent on this trip, but that's before I knew this fact. Do you have an explanation for this, Draco?"

"S, I assure you the reason Calista and I are going to France has nothing to do with the Zabinis," Draco replied.

S glanced down at Draco through his glasses. "I'm sorry, but what case are you investigating in France?"

Draco knew he had to tell the truth. "It's an unsolved case from a while ago, regarding both Calista and myself. I'm sure you remember the assassination attempt that was made on my life three months ago?"

S nodded, and Draco continued. "Well, after some research, we have reason to believe that the assassin can be traced back to Alberte Mouraient, therefore we are heading to his birth country to try to find out more."

"I see. And what exactly does Calista have to do with all this?" S asked.

"Well, sir, we didn't want to worry you, but two weeks ago, Calista was also targeted by an assassin that seems to have come from the same organisation as the one that tried to kill me."

S raised his eyebrows, then nodded. "All right, I see this trip has nothing to do with Mr Zabini. But Draco, I told Calista I'd give you two only a week off, and that still holds true. You have many other cases to take care of when you return."

"Yes, sir," Draco answered, and stood up to leave.

"Oh, Draco?" S called as Draco was stepping out of the office. "Be careful in France, both of you. I'd hate to lose two of my best assassins."

Draco looked back with a smirk. "Of course, S."

Draco took the elevator back down to the 10th floor, and found Calista already back in her office.

"What did S want?" she asked without looking up.

"Reasons why we're going to France. He thought we were going to murder Oreste Zabini," Draco said, collapsing into a chair. "So I told him the real reason."

Calista sighed, setting down her quill. "I suppose it won't hurt if he knew."

Draco nodded in agreement.

"Oh, by the way, I was wondering why you packed all those extra dragon-hide boots, cloaks and other apparel. We're only investigating for a week you know, not a month."

"Just precaution. Especially with my mother in France, you never know what's going to happen." Draco shrugged.

"Yeah, but what you did was raid the office supply."

Again Draco just shrugged. Calista rolled her eyes and gave up getting a real answer from Draco.

"Cali."

"Hmm?"

"Let's get lunch."

"But we already ate and it's just past breakfast time," Calista replied in confusion.

"Then let's have a long brunch." With that he pulled Calista's hand and exited her office and the office building.

Draco Apparated them away instantly as soon as they were outside the protection wards of the building. They appeared shortly at Draco's apartment.

"I thought we were having brunch," Calista said.

"Actually, I have to tell you something. I've kind of been contemplating this for some time now," Draco said seriously and Calista automatically sat down on his couch.

"I'm going to help Blaise," Draco stated with finality, showing that nothing Calista said could change his mind.

"What? You heard S, he personally and specifically told you NO."

"I have to do it Cali, or not he's going to ask some incompetent fool to do the job and it won't be clean."

"Oh, Draco. This is a bad idea," Calista said, shaking her head. "You'll be fired, or worse, killed or put in Azkaban, if S ever finds out, and you know he will!"

"I'm willing to risk that," Draco said, eyes fixed to a spot on the carpet.

"Risk everything you have, everything you've spent so long building? Your whole life could vanish, just like that! Listen to me! There are other assassination agencies, yes, they may not be as good as us, but I'm sure you'll be able to find one that is competent enough to do a clean job!" Calista exclaimed.

Draco raised his head and looked at her. "Perhaps. But I've made up my mind."

Calista sighed. "Then you've made your choice. But I hope you remember that I've warned you."

She got up from the couch, and headed for the fireplace. Without looking back at Draco, she said "The Portkey leaves from my apartment the day after tomorrow, at 9am sharp. I'll see you then."

And with that, she disappeared into the flames.

Two days later, Calista was waiting for Draco to arrive. All their luggage had been shrunk to fit into one simple, nondescript black case, which was now waiting by the coffee table, on where the Portkey to France, an old purple quill, sat.

Calista checked her reflection in the mirror. For the trip, they had decided to wear semi-permanent charms that would last for the entire week, without the need for renewals.

Her raven hair was charmed into a rich, dark shade of red, her navy blue eyes into hazel. She had also added a height charm, to make herself a little taller, added a few freckles onto her otherwise perfect complexion, and gave herself a rather prominent scar below her ear.

The Floo suddenly glowed brightly and Draco climbed out.

Instead of meeting Draco's signature silver blond hair and piercing grey eyes, Calista came face to face with a brunette Draco with dark brown eyes. His face was no longer pointy, his lean, fit body had become more bulky and his pale skin had turned a light shade of olive.

"Well, you look different," Calista stated.

"Isn't that the point?" Draco replied.

"How do I look?" Calista asked Draco, regarding her appearance, but all Draco did was lift one eyebrow in an inquiring manner. "I know it doesn't matter since I'm not myself anyway, nonetheless I want to look pretty."

"Well, you look pretty then," Draco stated nonchalantly

"Thanks. Shall we go...Mr. Vartan?" Calista said before handing Draco his new fake id.

"? We're married?"

"It makes it easier for us to travel together. We just got married and decided to spend our honeymoon travelling around France."

"Great! I've spent these past years trying to avoid marriage and then suddenly I'm already married."

"It's just pretence Draco, and I'm not going to take that comment personally. Now let's go before we're late."

Calista grabbed the suitcase and placed her hand on the Portkey as it glowed; Draco did the same and less than a second later they vanished into thin air.

End chp 6.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Blaise looked up as Astoria entered the conference room, looking sophisticated and business-like in an elegant cream suit. He watched as she made her way to a seat at the long, polished conference table, sitting down next to her boss. It was such a coincidence that he had arrived in France with his grandfather to learn that the company Zabini Indutries was signing a deal with happened to be the one Astoria worked for.

Astoria, on the other hand, was feeling extremely irritated. As if her trip wasn't ruined enough, her boss had heard she was visiting France and asked her to attend this meeting with Zabini Industries. Astoria looked across the table and found Blaise looking at her. She nodded once, and he replied with a slight smirk. They had never really gotten along, but Blaise was Draco's best friend, and she needed to at least act cordial around him.

Astoria and her boss now stood up as Oreste and Blaise Zabini headed towards them.

"Mr Zabini," Astoria greeted Oreste with a pleasant smile. Oreste was a friend of her parents; they were all associated with each other in the pureblood circles.

"Miss Greengrass, a pleasure," Oreste replied, shaking her hand.

He moved on to greet her boss, leaving Astoria alone with Blaise.

"Astoria," Blaise said, inclining his head. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I never expected to be here," Astoria replied coolly. "I was just told of this meeting two days ago."

Blaise arched an eyebrow. "One of the perks of being vice-president, eh?"

Astoria just nodded her head in agreement before sitting back down.

"Your company's revenue last year was very good; you must have worked very hard to be able to reach that number," Blaise said, trying to make some sort of civil conversation with his best friend's bride-to-be.

"Yes, I did." Blaise noted the 'I' instead of 'we'.

After a moment of silence, Astoria spoke again. "You know, no offense to your or my company, but I didn't really want to be here tonight."

"Oh?"

"I had other plans."

"Other plans? Draco's not here and you have other plans on this divine night, with someone that is not your fiancée. My,my, Astoria, what a naughty girl you are," Blaise replied, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

"You are so childish," Astoria hissed before grabbing her purse and walking towards the crowd.

Astoria disappeared into the thick crowd; she said a few hellos and gave a few big smiles to important people she knew. She didn't stomp away from Blaise Zabini because she was pissed off, maybe a little, but the main reason was because her bag had buzzed. She walked straight ahead, made a few turns and quickly entered the bathroom. She locked the door and once she was sure nobody else was in the bathroom, she took out a piece of parchment from her purse. It was emitting a light orangey glow; she unfolded it and read its contents.

'_Malfoy and Archibald are in here, in Marseilles' -MT_

Astoria narrowed her eyes, before casting a quick Incendio on the parchment and throwing the remaining ashes into the toilet. She hurried back into the conference room, just in time to sign the contract with Zabini Industries. She then forced her way through more small talk, then bid everyone goodbye before slipping out of the room. Blaise watched her leave curiously.

Once she reached the lobby of the building, Astoria made her way to the Apparition Points, and disappeared.

She re-appeared in front of what looked like an abandoned château in the middle of a bleak countryside landscape. She headed towards the main front door, and an enchanted voice drifted out from inside.

"Name?"

"Astoria Greengrass, here to see Marcellus Tourneau."

"Please step through."

Astoria entered through the wooden double-doors, barely glancing at the familiar interiors before heading up a flight of stairs. Despite the château's ramshackle exterior appearances, the inside was as grand as a palace, decked out in shades of cream, gold and brown and crystal chandeliers.

Astoria reached the reception desk; on the wall over it was a glass sign that read 'Tuer Academy' in golden letters, above the words was a star made up of two interlinked triangles. The receptionist glanced up and acknowledged her with a nod.

"Mr Tourneau is expecting you in his office, Miss Greengrass."

Astoria nodded back, and made her way down a long, carpeted hallway until she reached the door she was looking for, and entered.

The man sitting at the desk looked up as she took a seat, and pushed up his silver framed glasses into his curly dark hair.

"Miss Greengrass. I see you've received my message," he said.

"Yes, I did, but that can wait until later. Right now I want to know how the fuck you screwed up the last job I gave you! I'm not paying you a thousand Galleons so you can show off your incompetent skills! " Astoria snarled.

"My sincerest apologies Miss Greengrass, we didn't expect the woman, Calista Archibald, to be so accomplished and I must admit that I didn't send my best agent for that task. As I said, I didn't know that she was that good with her wand."

"You disgusting fool! You failed me once when you were not able to kill Draco Malfoy, and now this? That's two failed attempts in less than six months, Tourneau. What happened to 'Tuer Academy has never once failed a task, I assure you, Miss Greengrass.'?"

Marcellus Tourneau turned a light shade of red in embarrassment as he recalled his first meeting with Astoria Greengrass. It was almost four months ago when he met her, she had paid him five hundred galleons to kill her fiancé. A few weeks ago, what he got in return was a body bag of his own agent. A few weeks back when Astoria came again, she requested that they kill the women her fiancé had been sleeping with behind her back instead. And for the second time in three months, his agents failed him again.

"Astoria, I assure you that we have never failed previously, that is, before your two cases."

"Well, then what was the problem? How can this happen?"

Tourneau wasn't quite sure either but he didn't dare say it out loud, especially in front of an enraged Astoria Greengrass. "I was hoping to do a bit more research on the two of them, that is if you're still interested in both of them dead and still want to use our company."

Astoria glared at the man in front of her. 'Why would I use you again, after you failed me so many times?"

"I assure you that after this time they will definitely disappear off the face of the earth…forever." Tourneau smiled dangerously.

"And again I say, why should I believe that you will succeed this time?"

"Because I will make sure of it, I will personally do the job myself. And if you do want to use us again, I'll give you a discount."

Astoria still held her glare but she was actually contemplating Tourneau's words.

"Alright."

"Great, now the question that I wanted to ask in the first place, what is your fiancé and Archibald doing in Marseilles?"

"Draco told me that he would be in France for the next week for business, but I didn't expect that bitch to be with him," Astoria said.

"Right. Well, I'll do some research and find out their whereabouts, and I can assure you, the job will be done properly this time."

Draco and Calista sat in a café by the roadside, after spending a morning at Marseille's Wizarding Library. They had found out more information on the Tuer Academy, but not the whereabouts of its headquarters yet.

"So, I think we should maybe ask around, pretend we want to hire an assassin, then maybe someone will direct us to its headquarters," Calista said softly to Draco.

"Yeah, okay. Who should we ask, though?" Draco replied.

But Calista wasn't listening; she was gazing across the restaurant through narrowed eyes.

"Eleanor?" Draco called softly, using her alias.

"Look at that man over there, the one with the dark hair wearing sunglasses," Calista whispered.

Draco followed her gaze and saw a rather average-looking man wearing dark sunglasses, his face half-hidden by a French newspaper. There was a full plate of food sitting in front of him, untouched.

"What about him?" Draco whispered back. "He seems pretty normal. Really, Eleanor, I thought you had better taste than that."

"I'm not checking him out, you idiot! Look at his neck!" Calista hissed.

Draco peered at the man's neck. Right below his ear, was a tattoo...

"The star. Mouraient's symbol," Draco murmured, frowning.

"You think he works for Tuer Academy? Maybe we should ask him?" Calista suggested.

Draco clapped a hand over Calista's wrist without taking his eyes off the man. "No."

He watched as the man turned a page of his newspaper very deliberately. Draco stood up swiftly, pulling Calista up with him. "Come on. We're leaving."

The man shifted his head a little bit, surprised at the couple's sudden movement and that little movement was all Draco needed to prove his theory. He quickly dragged a reluctant Calista out of the café's perimeter and turned into the alley next to it. The man waited a few moments, keeping his eye trained on the two figures before dropping his newspaper and followed them. He made a turn into another alley where he saw Draco and Calista turn into, but found nobody. The alley was crowded but he couldn't find the two people he was looking for.

End chp 7.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

After suceeding in pulling Calista away, Draco continued walking until he turned into an empty alley. He quickly took out the disillusionment cloak and threw it over Calista and himself. Then quickly he muttered an illusion spell which made the alley look crowded, full of Muggles wandering around. Right on time, he saw the man turn into the alley they were in. He looked around for a moment; Draco could see even under the thick sunglasses that the man was confused. The man then ran to the other end of the alley, bumping into some 'people' before disappearing around the corner.

"Why did we run away?" Calista hissed, once Draco uncovered them. "It was the perfect chance for us to ask him questions."

"Don't talk, just follow me," Draco said through clenched teeth.

He led her to a darkened doorway in the alley, waved his hand to undo his illusion spell, then grabbed Calista's arm and Apparated them back to the hotel. Once they were back in the safety of their hotel room, Calista rounded on Draco.

"What the fuck was that about?" she demanded. "We had a lead!"

"A lead that was obviously spying on us," Draco replied tersely.

"What?"

"Don't you recognize him? I knew saw him in the library this morning. I wasn't sure if it was the same man, but as soon as he turned his head, I noticed that weird birthmark he has on his cheek. Also, did you notice his food? He hadn't touched it at all- that was what threw me to the scent in the first place. It's definitely the same guy, and he's onto us. I don't know why," Draco explained.

"Well, if he's from Tuer Academy, then he's an assassin. And if he's spying on us, he's probably checking out his next victims. Which means-," Calista glanced up at Draco,"-someone wants us dead."

Draco huffed in frustration and ran a hand through his hair. "How the fuck-We're wearing disguises, for god's sakes! Who could possibly see through this?" Draco gestured to himself.

"An extremely skilled assassin," Calista answered.

"Who desperately wants us dead?"

"I don't know… but according to you, a lot of people, since it's our job."

"The person or people who hired them must be someone rich and powerful, because it's not easy or cheap to hire assassins as skilled as them."

"Well, that narrows the list of suspects down," Calista said sarcastically. "The people we deal with on daily basis are all rich and powerful people, Draco."

"I think I can narrow it down much more, that is, if my theory is correct."

"That is?"

"I was thinking, how bloody easy it was for them to find us, even skilled assassins would need time and a lot of information to uncover our true identity, so maybe they're not only getting their information from books and files, maybe from somewhere else," Draco said, giving Calista a meaningful look.

"You mean like an inside job?"

Blaise entered his grandfather's suite in the hotel they were staying in, and sat down on the sofa opposite Oreste.

"You wanted to see me, Grandfather?" he asked coolly.

Oreste leaned forward and placed a newspaper on the coffee table, then straightened up.  
"Can you explain yourself?" Oreste asked in such a deathly calm voice that Blaise felt a shiver run through his spine.

Blaise picked up the newspaper, and saw it was that day's copy of Le Monde Magique, France's equivalent of The Daily Prophet. He unfolded the paper and found a picture of himself taken the previous night. Blaise, being one of wizarding Britain's most notorious (and richest) playboys, was often followed around by paparazzi, so he wasn't surprised to see himself on the front page. However, he knew he was in deep trouble when he actually realised what the picture was of.

The photo showed Blaise exiting a famous gay club in Marseilles, hand in hand with an extremely good-looking man, whom he couldn't remember the name of. The magical moving photograph re-looped and played itself again- Blaise and hot guy exited the club into a throng of photographers. Photo Blaise shoved a particularly enthusiastic photographer out of the way, and the couple dived into a waiting car, with Blaise sticking up his middle finger over his shoulder.

Blaise scanned through the article quickly, translating the French into English in his head.

The reporter, who was particularly bitchy, had written, _'This isn't the first time Playboy Blaise has been spotted with a younger, handsome man in tow. Will Grandfather Zabini approve? Rumor has it that Oreste Zabini, head of Zabini Industries ,worth over 200 million Galleons, has refused to leave his grandson and only heir the multi-million empire...'_

"Well, at least in my opinion, that is, I look rather dashing in this picture," Blaise commented lightly.

"For Merlin's sake, child! Could you at least be a little bit discreet about this?" Oreste said, regarding Blaise's wild partying and sexual preference.

"I do try, but the paparazzo just loves me too much."

"I am serious, Blaise! When will you grow up?"

"According to you, at the rate I'm going now, it'll be…let me think, what was it you said? Oh right, never."

Oreste decided not to pay attention to his grandson anymore and instead focused on what he should do about Blaise's new publicity stunt and the effect it'll have on Zabini Industries.

"We need to do some damage control, keep it on the low for the moment."

Blaise rolled his eyes in boredom and decided to tune out his grandfather's annoying voice and examined his manicured fingernails instead. He'd accidently chipped a tiny part of his third fingernail when trying to open his vitamin bottle.

"Are you listening to me?" His grandfather's loud voiced was suddenly so close to his ear. Blaise looked up to see his grandfather standing only a few centimetres away from where he was.

"Always, grandfather," Blaise replied smoothly.

"Good, I'm warning you Blaise, restrain yourself from making a fool out of the company and me. Another incident like this and I will fire you," Oreste threatened.

But Blaise didn't buy it, this had happened too many times to count and Blaise was tired of it, so he simply replied as he always did, "Yes, Grandfather." He gave Oreste a brilliant smile, which was not returned before he stood up and left the room, muttering under his breath quietly. "I'll be getting rid of you first before you can fire me again."

"Oh, this is perfect!" Esmeralda Greengrass exclaimed as they stepped into the ballroom at Malfoy Château.

The room was huge, with smooth hardwood floors, crystal chandeliers and a high, decorative ceiling.

"We can have the ceremony over here, and have the doors open for the view," Narcissa said, waving her hand towards the white French doors, which opened up to show off an amazing view of the surrounding vineyards.

"What do you think, Astoria?" Narcissa asked.

"Hmm?" Astoria was checking her mobile phone for messages and she looked up distractedly. "Yes, anything's fine."

Astoria's phone beeped with a new message. She clicked it open and read it with a smile.

_D.M and B.A spotted. Will go in for the kill soon. –MT_

"Astoria, dear, are you even paying attention to what we've been saying?" her mother scolded at Astoria's lack of response.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mother, Narcissa, what I meant is that, this place is perfect," Astoria replied with a genuine smile, although her happiness had nothing to do with the wedding plans.

"We can put some decorations, like fairy lights, around the balcony and garden," Narcissa continued. Behind her was the wedding planner jotting down notes. "What do you think, Jean-Claude?"

"It would be a little too crowded, but just as long as you don't put too much, I like it," Jean-Claude, Narcissa's gay wedding planner replied.

"So it would be too crowded?" Narcissa asked.

"Don't worry, Madame, with my gift, everything will be, muah, perfection," Jean-Claude said, making a kissing noise with his hand and mouth.

Blaise entered the elevator of the posh Marseilles hotel, muttering angrily under his breath. His grandfather had sent him to deliver some documents to Astoria, and he was annoyed at being treated like some sort of house elf.

Blaise headed up to Astoria's room; through the door he could hear Narcissa Malfoy and Esmeralda Greengrass chatting excitedly. Another male voice joined theirs, and Blaise frowned. It sounded strangely familiar.

Blaise raised his hand and knocked. The door flew open almost immediately, revealing Astoria, who raised an eyebrow when she saw him.

"Oh. It's you. Come in," she said, holding open the door.

"Thanks," he replied, and entered. "Oreste told me to give you these."

Astoria took the stack of proffered folders and nodded.

"Blaise, my dear! How lovely to see you!" Narcissa called from the couch.

"Mrs Malfoy. Mrs Greengrass, a pleasure," Blaise greeted politely with a short bow.

His eyes travelled over to the handsome brunette seated next to Narcissa, and felt his heart sink.

"Fuck," he thought.

"Blaise!" Jean-Claude greeted, standing up and moving over.

"Um...you!" Blaise replied, frantically trying to remember his name.

"Oh, you two boys know each other! Jean-Claude is planning Draco and Astoria's wedding," Narcissa explained.

"Jean-Claude! Yes!" Blaise exclaimed. "Um, I mean, yes, we have met."

Jean-Claude wrapped Blaise in a hug and whispered in his ear. "You have seen the lovely picture of us in the paper this morning, non?"

It was 2am and after a long day at work and an unexpected and unpleasant encounter with one of his one night stands, instead of tucking himself in his luxurious 6-star hotel bed, Blaise Zabini was parting like a wild animal. He had just received an invitation that evening, after his horrible afternoon with Jean-Claude, to an opening of a new club. One of his business partners had decided to try his hands at the hospitality industry and since the man, like Blaise, loved to party, he had decided to open a club in his birth city.

"Having a good time, Blaise?" Pierre shouted through the loud music.

"The best, thanks for inviting me, by the way," Blaise said before downing his cocktail.

"Nah, man, I should be thanking you. Look at how many paparazzo came tonight, just to get a picture of a drunken Blaise Zabini."

Blaise just smirked at his friend's comment and acted cool, even though he was more affected by the comment than he seemed or was willing to admit.

He gave Pierre a pat on his back before making his way to the dance floor. That was when he felt it, the same uneasy tingling sensation that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He was being watched.

Quickly, Blaise snapped his head around and met a familiar pair of dark eyes. The same eyes that were watching him yesterday and the day before.

End chp 8.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Blaise whipped around quickly, avoiding the man. He discreetly cast a Sobering Spell on himself so he could comprehend better. Slowly, Blaise turned and took a sip of his drink casually, looking around the room. He found the man with the dark eyes now seated at a small table opposite him. He decided to test his theory.

Striding to the door, Blaise threw on his cloak and exited into the street. He strolled quickly down the road, then ducked into a small cafe.

He seated himself at the back of the room and pretended to read the menu, his eyes shifting back to the door once in a while. A waitress came to his table and asked for his order, but Blaise wasn't paying any attention.

"Sir, excuse me, sir, what would you like?" the waitress asked irritably.

"Oh, right, one coffee please, black," Blaise replied with a smile, but his eyes were locked on the door. Was it just his mind playing tricks on him? Because it had been ten minutes already and nobody had entered.

Blaise glanced around quickly and there he was, the man with the dark eyes seated at the counter. Blaise's eyes widened and he turned back to his coffee. Had he been there the whole time? This confirmed it. He was definitely being followed.

Draco and Calista jolted apart from a rather passionate kiss as someone pounded frantically on their hotel room door. With a sigh, Draco got off the bed and opened it, and Blaise stumbled in looking faintly disorientated, glancing over his shoulder wildly.

"Blaise. We weren't expecting you so soon," Draco greeted.

Blaise looked at Draco. "I came over as soon as you owled back. Wait- you are Draco, right?" he asked, staring suspiciously at the still-disguised Draco.

Draco sighed wearily. "Yes, it's me. I warned you I'm in disguise."

"Who was the first boy I kissed?" Blaise demanded, still looking at Draco through narrowed eyes.

"Oliver Wood," Draco replied immediately and Blaise relaxed.

"Okay. Good. It's you."

Draco gestured to Calista. "Blaise, meet Calista, my partner."

Blaise looked at the woman standing behind Draco with curiosity. Draco told him about his partner-slash-lover several times before, but this was the first time he actually met her.

"Blaise Zabini," he said, extending his hand.

"Calista Archibald, or Eleanor Vartan for the moment,"Calista replied, shaking his hand.

"So, what are you here for?" Draco asked Blaise.

The panic in Blaise's eyes returned. "Someone's following me, not the paparazzi, I didn't realise it until yesterday, but I'm pretty sure this guy has been following me even before that."

"Someone's following you," Draco muttered to himself, but loud enough for everyone to hear. He shot Calista a look, but she just shrugged and looked uncertain.

"Did this person have a tattoo on his neck, by any chance?" Draco asked.

Blaise frowned and shrugged. "I didn't notice."

"Think carefully," Calista urged.

Blaise pinched the bridge of his nose and sat down on an armchair.

"I don't know. I was shit drunk, and it was dark in the club. He had dark eyes, I remember. Wearing jeans, black top, dark blue cloak." Blaise narrowed his eyes, thinking hard. "Horrible hair, but good shoes. Lacoste sneakers, Spring 2003."

"Tattoo, Blaise! We don't care about the shoes," Draco exclaimed.

Blaise squinted hard and tried to recall the man's neck. "Oh my god, yes, I think so. A star? I think..."

Draco and Calista glanced at each other, wide-eyed.

"When was the first time you noticed him?" Calista asked.

"About a week ago, I was buying a new suit for this meeting and I noticed this guy looking at me, but I just brushed it off, cause well...people look at me all the time." Blaise smirked playfully.

Draco and Calista rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"Did he follow you here?" Blair asked.

"No, do you think I'm that stupid? I apparated to the main Floo transport, lost him there, and took a taxi here. I didn't want him to know I came here," Blaise explained.

Draco looked impressed; he never knew Blaise was that sly, since all he did was party and get wasted, but he was a Slytherin and a director of Zabini Industries, so maybe it should have been expected.

Blaise, Calista and Draco stayed up all night, plotting a plan to try and capture Blaise's stalker. Blair and Draco had filled Blaise in on their own case, without giving away too much information because of the Fraternity's confidentiality policy. Since Draco believed the two cases were linked, he thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try and find Tuer Academy's headquarters.

By sunrise, they were ready. Blaise had taken Polyjuice Potion containing Draco's hair, then Draco had charmed Blaise so that he would look like the olive-skinned, brunette version of Draco. Calista remained as she was, looking as conspicuous as possible in a black trenchcoat and dark, wide-rimmed sunglasses. Draco himself had placed an extra-strong Disillusionment charm on himself.

The plan was for Calista and Blaise to exit the hotel noticeably, letting however many stalkers there were to follow them. Draco, invisible, would follow behind, keeping a look-out for the men from Tuer Academy.

Calista and Blaise would then lead the stalkers to a deserted area, where Draco could seize them, bring them back to the hotel and question them.

"Bounjour, Madame et Monsieur Vartan." The doorman greeted Calista and fake-Draco brightly. Calista gave him a warm smile and went out, taking 'Draco's' arm in hers.

To other people, they looked just like a normal rich couple going out, nothing out of the ordinary. They started walking to the planned destination they had agreed upon, keeping a normal pace and casual look. As predicted, a cloaked figure followed them, walking just a few metres behind the couple. Unknowingly to the man, he was also being followed by none other than the real Draco Malfoy. After stopping to get some coffee as Calista and Draco always do, they continued on to a deserted park.

Draco held out his hand and quickly cast a powerful ward around the area, to prevent unsuspecting muggles from wandering in.

Calista and Blaise sat down on a bench and started talking quietly. Draco spotted the cloaked figure strolling towards them.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Draco called out, his wand aimed at the figure.

Having heard Draco's cry, the figure had pulled out their own wand, but it was too late. Draco's hex had hit the person, who was immobilized on the ground.

Blaise and Calista had leapt up from the bench, wands at the ready for any more stalkers that may have been around.

Draco reached down and pulled the hood off the person, revealing a woman around thirty years old. He stepped back in slight shock, having expected a man. Calista came up next to him.

"All clear. We better get back to the hotel," she said.

Draco nodded, waving his wand over the woman, binding her in ropes and placing a gag over her mouth. Blaise took out the prepared Portkey from his pocket, and in a few seconds, they all appeared back in the hotel room.

Céline Dupont watched as the brunette man pointed his wand between her eyes. She really didn't think that things would end up this way; to say that she was shocked was an understatement.

"Finite Incantatem," Draco ended the body-binding spell.

A chair was placed in front of her and a redheaded lady sat down on it.

"Hello there," Calista greeted with a bright smile.

Céline shifted on her chair, trying to feel how the rope was tied and maybe plan for an escape. However, it was useless; the rope was bound tightly and a securing charm was placed on it. Calista noticed what the woman in front of her was trying to do and grinned.

"It's a bit tight, isn't it? Don't bother trying to escape; Draco placed a binding spell on it as well."

"I've noticed," Céline hissed through gritted teeth.

Still with her warm, cheerful expression, Calista asked, "What's your name?"

The woman in front of her said nothing, though, just stared at her coldly.

"You know, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

Céline didn't reply.

Calista stared at her for a few moments before turning to Draco. "Veritaserum."

"No, no, I'll talk!" Céline rasped in a rough voice.

Calista grinned. "Good girl. Who sent you?"

"My boss is Marcellus Tourneau."

"And who hired your agency for this job?"

Céline glared at Calista for a while before speaking. "Astoria Greengrass."

End chp 9


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**ONE YEAR AGO...**

Draco fidgeted restlessly and moved the salad around on his plate with his fork. Astoria placed a hand on his knee, and he stilled as he felt her nails dig into his knee.

"Stop it," she hissed.

"This is boring. I told you I should have just stayed home," he whispered back.

"Well, Oreste told me to bring along my 'delightful fiancé'; how could I say no? Talk to Blaise if you're so bored."

Draco turned to his left. Blaise was staring ahead, a weird expression on his face.

"What's with you?" Draco asked.

"I need to talk to you about something. Can I come over later?" Blaise asked.

Draco frowned. "Yeah, sure."

They returned their attention to Oreste Zabini across the table, who was now lifting his wine glass.

"To the future of our companies," Oreste toasted.

Josephine Lockwood, president of Setterland Financial Holdings, raised her glass as well.

"It's an honour to work with Zabini Industries."

It was well past midnight when the dinner ended. After a peck on her lips, Draco left Astoria to go home alone. He said something about going out to this pub with Blaise. Astoria had pouted and tried to ask Draco to take her home first, but he had already left in a hurry with his best friend.

As the vice president of Setterland Financial, she had to stay back for a few minutes until the bosses had left. Thankfully, it didn't take them long to finish their wine and head home. Astoria grabbed the floo powder and was about to return to her apartment when she saw the large diamond ring on her ring finger. A rare smile graced her lips; it was only a few weeks ago when her arranged engagement to Draco was announced. She decided then to head back to Draco's apartment instead of her own.

Astoria appeared in Draco's fireplace, but as she tried to step out, she found it was blocked. She took out her wand and cast 'alohomora' to find that there were wards preventing her from doing so. She huffed in irritation and was about to apparate out when she heard noises; voices that sounded like Draco and Blaise. Astoria pressed her ear to the fireplace and was about to yell at the two men, but what Blaise said next stopped her dead.

"—fucking sick and tired of him. He needs to die." Blaise's voice was icy cold and emotionless.

Astoria pressed her ear closer, against the wards, to strain to hear Draco's reply.

"—but he's your grandfather...can't just kill him..."

"Not the way he treats me, he's not my grandfather!" Blaise bellowed.

Astoria didn't bother to wait to hear what Draco had to say. She cast a Silencing spell so they wouldn't hear the crack of Apparition, and disappeared.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Draco asked, settling down on his couch next to Blaise.

They had escaped from the business dinner the earliest chance they got, and returned to Blaise's apartment.

Blaise was gazing at the floor. "Don't hate me for what I'm going to say."

Draco sighed. "Blaise, did you take my Armani suit and spill something on it again?"

"No!" Blaise looked up at Draco. "You know the relationship between Oreste and I."

Draco nodded. Oreste didn't approve of Blaise's sexuality, and refused to leave him the family company.

"I want to hire you to kill him," Blaise said.

Draco's eyes widened. "Don't you think that's a little extreme?"

"Listen, Draco, I'm sure you've heard the rumours about him not leaving me Zabini Industries because I'm gay. That company belongs to me. Better safe than sorry to off him before he changes his will. Besides, I work my ass off for that company, and never once has he thanked me. All we do is fight. I'm fucking sick and tired of him. He needs to die."

"But he's your grandfather. I can't just kill him."

"Not the way he treats me, he's not my grandfather!" Blaise exclaimed loudly.

"Okay! Look, if this is what you really want, I'll do it for you."

A few weeks later, Astoria received an owl from Narcissa Malfoy, saying that she had finished the guest list for the wedding and wanted Astoria to review them. Astoria made her way to Malfoy Manor's east wing where Narcissa usually spent her days. Suddenly a house elf appeared before her looking scared.

"Miss Greengrass, what a surprise to see you here," the house elf stuttered.

Astoria just stared in disgust at the little creature. The elf looked around, unsure, before laughing nervously and continued. "Is there anything I can help you with, Miss Greengrass?"

"Yes, move out of my way. I'm here to meet Narcissa in Draco's study."

The house elf's eyes widened. "But, Miss Greengrass, Mrs Malfoy is not in residence."

"That's odd," Astoria said. "Where is she?"

"Mr and Mrs Malfoy went to the States to see a distant relative."

"Well, it doesn't matter, I'll just go and get the list, now move!" Astoria ordered.

"But...but, Miss Greengrass-,"

"Get out of my way, you disgusting creature, or do you want me to tell Mrs Malfoy to give you a piece of clothing?" Astoria threatened.

The elf squeaked in fear before disapparating.

Astoria snorted in irritation and strode down the hallway, her heels clicking on the marble floors. When she reached Draco's study, she paused as she heard low, murmured voices coming from inside. Peeking through the gap in the door that was slightly ajar, what Astoria saw shocked her to the core.

Sitting on a low sofa in front of the fireplace was Draco and a woman Astoria did not recognise. She was beautiful, with long raven hair and a slim, model figure. Draco and the woman were entwined on the sofa, and Astoria watched in horror as she peppered Draco's jaw with light kisses, her dark blue eyes sparkling mischievously. Draco laughed softly, reaching up to place a tender kiss on her lips.

"Mmm, love you, Cali," he murmured.

Astoria froze, her grip tight on her wand. Never once in the ten years she'd known Draco had he said that to her. To hear him say it now to some slut, so genuine and lovingly, made Astoria want to burst in and cast a Crucio on the woman. But something stopped her.

And that something was a little voice in her head that whispered "Revenge."

"Fucking bastard! Asshole! Ungrateful son of a bitch!"

Astoria flung the empty Firewhiskey bottle against the wall, angry tears streaming down her face. She took another bottle of Firewhiskey from a glass cabinet and tried to open it, but found some difficulties in her drunken state.

It wasn't the fact that Draco had taken a lover that pissed her off. It was common, especially in the upper-class pureblood society, for arranged marriages to be open; both husband and wife taking lovers. What made her so angry was the fact that she knew that Draco fucking Malfoy was capable of saying those three words and he said it to some stupid slut instead of her. She was always there for him, ever since they first met. She had the biggest crush on him ever since he was in third year and she was in her first.

Suddenly there was a knock on her door. Astoria was about to tell whoever it was to fuck off when her door opened and none other than Oreste Zabini entered her office.

"Miss Greengrass?" Oreste called out to her large empty office before noticing her on the couch.

Astoria tried to compose herself before replying. "Mr Zabini, can I help you?"

"Are you alright?" Oreste asked, seeing Astoria in her messy state with mascara tracks running down her cheeks.

"I'm fine," Astoria replied, hurriedly wiping her cheeks.

Oreste stepped over the broken shards of the glass bottle on the floor and placed some files on her desk.

"Those are the documents Josephine asked for," he explained.

Astoria nodded. "Thank you," she replied coolly.

Oreste nodded at Astoria and started to walk to the door. Although he couldn't see it, he felt Astoria sag into the sofa. He tried to ignore it and was about to turn the doorknob, but somehow he didn't.

Intstead, he turned around and faced Astoria. Maybe it was because Astoria's parents were his good friends and she was Blaise's classmate.

Oreste walked over to where Astoria sat and poured some firewhiskey into her glass before pouring one for himself.

"I bet 50 galleons it's boy troubles," Oreste tried awkwardly.

Astoria didn't answer; instead she burst into tears and gulped down her drink.

"Is it Draco? You must know, that is just how men are, it is our nature. I suggest you just appreciate what you can get."

Appreciate what I can get?" Astoria screeched. "I am Astoria Greengrass, I don't just take what people give me, I take what I deserve and I deserve Draco's love, not some stupid slut. I deserve more than a diamond ring and the Malfoy title to my name!"

"Ahh. So it is young Mr Malfoy,"Oreste said.

"Mr? The only title he deserves is epic fuckwit," Astoria spat bitterly, downing the remainder of the frewhiskey.

"And there is another woman," Oreste continued, ignoring Astoria's crude language. "You should consider this a lesson learned. Now you know to be more aware, and to fight for him."

"Fight for him? I have fought for him for ten years and look where I am now!" Astoria exclaimed maliciously. "And how dare you lecture me about being aware, when your own grandson is plotting to kill you right under your nose!"

Oreste looked at Astoria sharply. "What are you suggesting, Miss Greengrass?" he asked in a dangerous tone.

"Your precious grandson, your only heir, wants you to die," Astoria said slowly, looking Oreste in the eye with a slight smirk.

"Ironic, isn't it? Always obedient Blaise, working so hard for the company...and yet..." Astoria trailed off with a faraway look in her eyes.

"How dare you insinuate-," Oreste thundered, standing up and glaring down at Astoria.

"Oh, don't believe me?" Astoria asked innocently. "I'm quite surprised actually, it's a clever plan. Of course, I would expect no less from a Slytherin."

"Miss Greengrass, you are obviously under the influence of alcohol. I will not grace your accusations with a response. Goodnight," Oreste said steadily through clenched teeth.

He turned on his heel and exited the office, his black robes billowing around him.

End chp 10.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

_Previously..._

"_And who hired your agency for this job?"_

_Céline glared at Blair for a while before speaking. "Astoria Greengrass."_

Silence filled the entire room, all eyes upon a stricken Draco. He, on the other hand, was looking at Céline.

"Are you shitting me?" Blaise exclaimed, breaking the tense silence.

"You're lying," Draco hissed dangerously.

"Wasn't expecting that, were you?" Céline mocked. Calista suddenly stood up from her chair and slapped Céline hard across the face.

"Remember who you are, and who we are." Calista pulled Céline up by her collar and hissed, "It would be so easy for us to use Veritaserum on you, then dump your lifeless body in front of your precious Tuer Academy. So why don't you behave and cooperate, or else."

"You think I'm not telling the truth?"

"I'm not convinced you are." Calista released her and smirked wickedly.

Without saying a word, Draco strode over to the pile of luggage by the wall, picking up the black briefcase roughly and unlocking it. He pulled out a small glass vial and walked back over to Céline, forcing her head back with his wand and pouring the liquid down her throat.

Draco leaned down, one arm braced on each arm of Céline's chair, his face close to hers.

"Who. Hired. You?" Draco whispered through clenched teeth.

Céline blinked , her eyes unfocused, before answering in a monotonous voice. "Astoria Greengrass."

Draco straightened up and closed his eyes. Calista reached out and placed a hand on his arm.

"Dra-," she began.

"Question her; find out everything you can about Tuer Academy and...Astoria. Then Obliviate her, take everything. I don't want her to remember a single thing about her life. When that's done you can let her go."

With that, Draco strode to the door and exited the room.

When Draco returned two hours later, he was wearing a different disguise, now with messy black hair, pale skin and thin silver-framed glasses. Blaise, meanwhile, had removed his disguise and was sprawled across the bed, watching TV. Calista was seated at the desk, writing on a piece of parchment, and there was no sign of Céline.

Draco headed over to Calista and they spoke quietly for a few moments. Calista disappeared into the bathroom and emerged a few minutes later with a new disguise, then exited the hotel room.

Blaise sat up on the bed. "Where's she going?"

"I told her to go get some dinner," Draco said, settling down next to Blaise. "We need to talk."

"Yes, we definitely do. Astoria?" Blaise exclaimed.

"I don't want to believe it either, how could Astoria do this?"

"I know, she doesn't even seem smart enough to be able to plan something like this. Maybe your Veritaserum was a bit faulty."

"No, it wasn't." Draco glared at Blaise before continuing. "And what do you mean by Astoria's not smart enough, she's the vice-president of Setterland."

"Defending your fiancée now, are we? I thought you didn't think too highly of her, isn't that why you have Calista?"

"It's not like that," Draco snapped.

"Not like that, what? You and Astoria?"

"No, Cal and I, but that one too."

Blaise looked at Draco in confusion. Draco sighed in exasperation before explaining.

"It's not that I dislike Astoria, I love her, especially since we grew up together, but it's more of a friendly or brotherly affection, you know? I don't really fancy the thought of marrying her."

"Yeah, yeah," Blaise said, waving his hand dismissively. "What I'm confused about is the you and Calista part, what do you mean it's 'not like that' between the two of you?"

Draco sighed and got off the bed. He paced up and down the foot of the bed for a while before wandering to the window and gazing out.

"Well, what I feel for Cali...I've never felt before..." Draco began. "You know?"

Blaise huffed. "No, I don't freaking know!"

Draco turned and looked at Blaise and blinked. Then he turned to look out the window again and back to Blaise.

"Draco Malfoy, are you_ blushing_?" Blaise asked. "Stop that, honey, it looks terrible with your complexion.

"Don't call me honey, that's just gross."

"Tell me, tell me!" Blaise whined.

"Um...umm...well, umm...you know..."

"Just fucking tell me already, Malfoy, or I will slap you!"

"I LOVE HER, OKAY?" Draco shouted.

Blaise's eyebrows shot up and his mouth fell open. Draco waited patiently.

"What in Merlin's name did you just say?" Blaise asked, once he snapped back to reality.

"You heard me, Blaise. The entire hotel heard me."

"No, no, I must have misheard you, because you see, I thought you said 'I love her', but I must clearly be wro-,"

"I love Calista," Draco said.

"Are you going soft on me, Malfoy?"

"Pfft, no!"

"Wow! I mean, WOW!"

"You disapprove?"

"I don't know her well enough to approve or not." Blaise shrugged. "Hell, I don't even know what she really looks like! She's been in disguise the whole time. I bet she's gorgeous. She's gotta be, if you're shagging her."

"Blaise! There's no need to be crude."

"Still, I bet she is," Blaise continued without batting an eyelid. "She is, isn't she?"

Draco rolled his eyes, but smiled. "Yes, she is."

"Aw! My Draco's all grown up!" Blaise cried out as he bounded off the bed and enveloped Draco in a hug.

Draco returned the hug briefly and patted Blaise on the back once before letting go.

"Okay, that's enough. I think I just exceeded my emotional capacity for today."

Blaise still had his arms around Draco when the door flew open and Calista strolled in with a few shopping bags on her arms.

"Hey boys, I got dinner—What's going on?"

Draco pushed Blaise away. "Erm, nothing."

"And she's completely Obliviated?" Victor Mouraient asked.

"Yes, sir. We found her at the Muggle police station yesterday. They said she was found unconscious," Marcellus Tourneau replied. "She doesn't remember a single thing."

"She must have been compromised."

"Yes, we fear so. What shall we do now, sir?"

"Kill her; she is of no use to us anymore."

"What shall we do about Miss Greengrass's case?"

"Figure it out by yourself, you incompetent fool!" Victor spat. "You're a senior agent; must I lecture you on every turn of action?"

Marcellus just bowed his head and remained quiet.

"Is there anymore disappointing news I must know?"

"No, sir."

"Good, now get out of my office!"

Marcellus scurried away from Victor's office, once he was outside; he released the breath he had been holding. Victor wasn't a sadistic man, but he could be unforgiving towards his subordinates, especially if they failed a task. Wiping beads of cold sweat from his forehead, Marcellus pondered about what he should do about his other problem-that is, telling Astoria Greengrass he had failed again.

Astoria Greengrass was waiting. Rather impatiently. Sitting in a small cafe in Marseilles by the sea, Astoria reached out and checked the small screen of her mobile phone for the second time in the last minute. Huffing in frustration, she picked up her handbag, about to head off on a shopping spree when her mobile finally beeped.

Smiling triumphantly, Astoria flipped open the slim silver phone and read the message.

_Meet me at HQ. -MT._

Astoria entered Marcellus's office ten minutes later, raising an eyebrow at a clearly nervous Marcellus.

"This had better be good news, Tourneau," she said.

Marcellus cleared his throat. "Have a seat, Miss Greengrass."

Astoria settled herself into a chair and stared expectantly at Marcellus, who took a deep breath.

"Miss Greengrass, how are you today?" Mracellus asked.

Astoria raised one golden eyebrow. "Very good, but I'm sure what you'll say next will make me happier," she said in a slightly threatening tone.

Marcellus laughed nervously and Astoria's face turned unpleasant.

"You've failed, haven't you?"

"What? No, no I didn't, I haven't even made the final move."

"Then why are you so nervous?"

"Ehm...well, that is, I sadly do have to tell you that, um...There has been...what I would say, a slight misfortune."

"Spit it out, or I'll hex you, Tourneau," Astoria threatened, drawing her wand out and pointing it at Tourneau's heart.

"We believe that Mr Malfoy, Mr Zabini and Miss Archibald might have some idea that you are behind all of this."

Astoria paled at the news, her hand shook so much until she couldn't even hold her wand properly.

"Impossible, what makes you think that?"

"One of our agents that were following Mr Zabini was abducted a few days ago and when we found her, all of her memories were erased."

"That doesn't prove your theory."

"Miss Greengrass, I'm terribly sorry, but we do have to plan for the worst."

Astoria put her wand down and remained quiet.

"All the evidence points to Blaise Zabini and if Céline did tell him, the Mr Zabini will most likely have told Mr Malfoy. I must apologise on Céline's behalf. I shouldn't have sent her for the job, she is quite incompetent. We-,"

"Enough of your pathetic excuses!" Astoria spat. She stood, pushing her chair back roughly. "You've failed me more than once; it's inexcusable!"

Tossing her golden hair over her shoulder, Astoria turned and headed to the door, looking back at Marcellus before exiting.

"You're fired."

Astoria stepped out of the elevator into the plush hotel corridor. She made her way down and stopped in front of a polished oak door, knocking once before reaching out for the golden handle and pushing it open.

The room was dark, but Astoria could see the silhouette of the man standing by the window, his back to her. The moonlight highlighted his silver-streaked hair and the crystal tumbler of Firewhiskey he held in his hand.

"I've fired them. It's time we took matters into our own hands," Astoria spoke aloud, her words echoing slightly in the silent room.

Oreste Zabini turned, and in the pale moonlight, Astoria saw him nod once.

End chp 11.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**10 MONTHS AGO.**

Oreste Zabini sat behind his large desk, trying to concentrate hard on the Zabini Industries financial reports that needed his approval. He sighed, what seemed like the tenth time in the last hour and decided to give up on the papers. He took his glasses off and stared at the seat in front of him.

It was only an hour ago that his grandson had sat there, arguing with him, again. It had been a nasty fight and Blaise had left, fuming and cursing. Oreste had to admit, he had been too harsh this time and now he felt something that he rarely felt-guilt.

Sighing for the last time, Oreste decided to go to Blaise's office and apologise. He stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button under his floor. It gently bumped to a stop and Oreste stepped out, making his way to the opaque glass door with the plaque that read 'Blaise Zabini.'

Oreste raised a hand, about to knock, when he heard Blaise's voice drift out.

"I know, I know," Blaise said impatiently.

Silence followed, and Oreste assumed he was in the middle of a fire-call. Oreste turned, about to return to the elevator, but stopped in his tracks when he heard Blaise's next sentence.

"Of course I still want him dead!"

Another pause.

"Can you believe what the old bastard called me this morning? A _sexual fiend._ Just because there was a picture of Miles and I in the papers today making out."

Blaise snorted in disbelief before continuing.

"Yeah, I know...It'll take me awhile to get the money..."

Oreste had heard enough. Half furious, half shocked; he made his way back to the elevator, leaning heavily on his cane. A part of him refused to believe his grandson was plotting to murder him, but he thought back to a conversation he'd had a couple of months ago...

"...own grandson is plotting to kill you right under your nose..."

Realising the lift had returned to his office, Oreste walked back to his desk, catching sight of a copy of The Daily Prophet lying next to his quill. The photo on the front page stared up at him, a cruel reminder of the fight this morning.

Oreste didn't mean to call Blaise a sexual fiend; he was just sick and tired of seeing his precious heir's personal life splashed across the tabloids. Clenching his jaw at the photo of Blaise and his latest...suitor, Oreste closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was an ex-Slytherin and still one at heart, and if there was one thing a Slytherin could do, it was to fight back.

Oreste reached out and pressed a button on the enchanted intercom, the voice of his secretary floating out.

"Yes, sir?"

"Contact Astoria Greengrass. I need to speak with her."

Blaise Zabini stormed into his office and slammed the glass door, causing it to crack. Fuming, he raised his wand and aimed it at the desk, muttering a spell, and the desk, along with all the paperwork and quills, were destroyed into pieces.

Once he had calmed down slightly, there was a knock on his door.

'It's most likely his stupid assistant,' Blaise thought.

Rolling his eyes, he grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on and threw it against the wooden frame of the door, as a sign to leave him the fuck alone. He looked at the broken bottle he just threw.

"Fuck," he cursed; it was the rare giant's wine that one of his business partners had just given to him.

"Why is everything so screwed up today?" Blaise yelled. He went over to the fireplace and fire-called Draco.

Draco Malfoy's head appeared seconds later in Blaise's fireplace. Instantly, Draco's eyes landed on Blaise's office before on the man himself.

"What happened? World War 3?"

With a flick of his wand, everything fell back together and returned to their original place, all except for the dark red stain on his white carpet. Blaise sighed and turned back to face Draco, looking annoyed.

"No, Oreste Zabini happened."

"Ahh. So, Zabini War Number 517, 000," Draco corrected.

Blaise laughed humourlessly. "Oh, so funny. I'm calling to find out how long it'll take for you to kill him!"

Draco tsk'd. "Patience, Blaise, you know the rules. We'll start planning as soon as we receive the funds." He raised an eyebrow meaningfully.

"I know, I know," Blaise said in an impatient tone.

"Unless, of course, you've changed your mind?"

Blaise shook his head. "Of course I still want him dead!"

"Okay. So what was this fight about?" Draco asked.

"Can you believe what the old bastard called me this morning? A _sexual fiend._ Just because there was a picture of Miles and I in the papers today making out." Blaise snorted.

"Yes, I saw that. It was a good picture."

"Yeah, I know." Blaise sighed. "It'll take me awhile to get the money though. Your services are ridiculously expensive."

Draco smirked. "Hey, you pay well to get the best."

Draco paused and looked over his shoulder, and Blaise heard someone speaking faintly in the background. Draco turned back.

"I have to go, I've got a job. Call me if you need anything else, okay?"

Blaise nodded, and Draco extinguished the flames.

ONE MONTH LATER...

"Mr. Zabini, Miss Greengrass is here for her appointment," Oreste's secretary said.

"Send her in."

Astoria entered Oreste's office holding in her arm a black folder with 'Setterland Financial Holdings' printed on it and a black briefcase. Once the door was closed, Astoria placed the folder on Oreste's table. Oreste raised one eyebrow. "I thought out meeting today was ... non-business related."

Astoria had the urge to roll her eyes but prevented herself from doing so out of respect. Instead she opened the folder and inside, written in bold was 'Tuer Academy'

"Ah, I see, very clever, my dear. So what news you have brought me today?"

"I contacted the Tuer Academy and they want to meet me."

" And you're wondering if it's a good idea," Oreste said.

"Yes, I would like your opinion, do you think it's safe for me to meet them?"

"I don't see why not, what's there to fear?"

"What if someone sees me meeting them? What if Draco notices that I've been meeting you more often lately?" Astoria said, growing anxious.

"Do not overthink, Miss Greengrass, just remain calm, like you usually are and everything will be fine. Everything will go perfectly and you will take your well-earned place as vice-president of Zabini Industries."

"How can I be calm? It's not like I do this often, you know!" Astoria snapped. "I-I'm sorry, I'm just very... nervous."

"It's fine, Miss Greengrass, but just remember that the only link people can find between the Tuer Academy and me is you, so if anything should go wrong, you will be the one facing the Dementor's Kiss, so I suggest that you keep your act together," Oreste said coolly.

"You're the one funding this plan, people could trace-"

"The Aurors would trace it back to an account that doesn't exist in an island that has never been heard or located before."

"Are you threatening me?" Astoria whispered quietly.

"No, I'm merely pointing out the disaster that you could face if you...do not succeed."

"I understand... I will be arranging a meeting with Tuer Academy then."

"Will that be all?"

"Yes."

"Good luck then, Miss Greengrass and good afternoon."

End chp 12.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Presently...

Draco blinked and sat up in bed, woken up by the ray of sunlight that had settled on his face. Careful not to wake Calista, he slipped out of the bed and into the bathroom. He peered into the mirror, inspecting his disguised face. Pulling out his wand, Draco waved it over himself, and he smirked slightly as he watched his normal self reappear in the mirror. He dressed in a crisp white shirt and a steel grey suit, and then returned to the bedroom.

Calista had woken, and was sitting up in bed, blinking sleepily.

"Hey, what's going on? Where's your disguise?" she said through a yawn.

"I have a plan," he replied simply, fastening his platinum Rolex around his wrist.

"Oh? Care to elaborate?"

"Sorry, darling. You have to trust me on this."

Calista shrugged and left the bed, entering the bathroom.

Draco took a seat at the desk and penned out a note on a piece of parchment.

_Dear Mother,_

_I have the day off, and would like to accompany you for lunch this afternoon._

_I will Portkey into Marseille should you agree._

_Awaiting your reply, Draco._

After sending it off with an owl from the hotel's Owlery, Draco read a couple of pages of the newspaper, before the owl returned.

He detached the reply and read it, smirking openly.

_Draco,_

_Shame on you, making that poor owl fly all the way to France from Britain. _

_Meet me at 12 noon at the Café Rienne on Rue du Sainte-Exupery._

_You wouldn't mind if Astoria joins us, would you?_

_Love, your mother._

Draco raised an eyebrow. He wouldn't mind at all. In fact, that was exactly what he wanted.

He amused himself around the room until 11.30, before preparing to leave.

"Stay low-key today, okay? Try not to leave the room," Draco said to Calista.

Calista sighed, but nodded. "Good luck with whatever," she replied, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Draco smiled and left the room.

Twenty minutes later, Draco entered the café. He looked around and saw Astoria with her back facing him, talking to his mother and Esmeralda. Draco walked towards them and gave Narcissa a small smile before bending down and kissing Astoria on her cheek.

"Hello, sweetheart," Draco whispered.

Astoria snapped her head around, her eyes wide in shock.

"Draco, wha-what a surprise!" Draco detected a glint of fear crossing Astoria's face.

"Draco told me early this morning that he has the day off and wondered if he could accompany us for lunch. We decided not to tell you because we wanted it to be a surprise," Narcissa said, sharing a smile with Esmeralda.

"Good afternoon Mother, Esmeralda, I hope I didn't keep you waiting," Draco greeted the other women.

"No, not at all, we were just about to order," Esmeralda said.

Draco sat down next to Astoria and flicked through his menu. He could see how tense Astoria was and it took her several minutes to compose herself, but even then she still wouldn't look at him properly and every time Draco held or touched her hand, she would flinch. Thankfully lunch didn't last very long, Draco had tried to engage conversation with his mother and Esmeralda, but his mind seemed to keep drifting back to the woman beside him. Even though he didn't always show it, he actually did care about Astoria. He had always regarded her as a spoilt little sister, so it was very shocking and hurtful to know that Astoria was the one who planned the assassination.

"Draco, I'll see you soon, sweetheart. Esmeralda and I are meeting our friend Lourdes for tea," Narcissa said, kissing her son's cheek before exiting the café with Esmeralda in tow.

Draco waved goodbye and was taking his coat from the coat-check when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to face Astoria.

"Are you returning home, to London?" Astoria asked.

Draco pretended to look at his watch before replying, "Yes, I think I will. It's still early so I may as well finish off some work in the office."

"Alright then, be safe," Astoria said, giving him a dimpled smile before reaching up and kissing him briefly on the lips.

"I'll try my best."

Astoria looked blankly at Draco, Draco on the other hand tried to read her expression, to see if she noticed the hint he gave her. Instead, she gave him another smile then walked out onto the busy streets.

Draco quickly ducked into a dark corner by the door of the restaurant, pulling out his wand. Lightning fast, he spelled himself a new disguise (mouse brown hair and dark blue eyes), transfigured his suit and leather shoes into jeans, a checked shirt and sneakers and pulled out a pair of sunglasses, slipping them on.

He exited the restaurant and scanned the street for Astoria. Spotting her blonde head about eight metres away, he swiftly moved closer and followed her at a safe distance.

She walked for about ten minutes, across two blocks to an expensive area of Marseilles. Draco watched from a newsstand as she entered a posh hotel across the road. Draco took note of the hotel's name, and he realised with interest it was not the one Astoria was supposed to be staying in with Narcissa and Esmeralda.

He expertly scanned the outside of the hotel, noting with interest a rare, pale grey 1957 Aston Martin DB parked outside the front doors, a chauffeur seated at the wheel.

Draco hung around outside the hotel for a while longer, pretending to read magazines at the newsstand.

Fifteen minutes later, Astoria exited the hotel, and Draco gasped softly from behind _Vogue France_ as she slid into the Aston Martin and spoke to the chauffeur, who drove away in a cloud of smoke.

Meanwhile back at the hotel, Calista was bored. She clicked off the television with a frustrated sigh, then smiled as she got an idea. She slid out of the armchair and headed to the desk, writing out a short note. She sent it off with an owl, and then settled down to wait in front of the news.

Half an hour later, Blaise entered the hotel room, dressed in faded jeans and a white polo, looking half asleep and carrying a bagful of groceries.

"Ohhh god, do you have hangover potion?" he asked.

Calista summoned a vial from the luggage and tossed it to him. "Late night?"

"New nightclub," Blaise answered, setting down the bag and downing the potion.

"Thanks for doing this. I was hungry, and Draco told me not to leave the room."

"Hmm. Ever heard of...room service?" Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow and collapsing on the bed.

"Now, that wouldn't have been fun, would it?"

Blaise stared at Calista through half lidded eyes.

"No wonder he likes you," Blaise commented before smiling slightly.

Calista looked at Blaise questioningly, "I'm assuming the 'he' is Draco?"

"Who else?"

Calista took the groceries from the table and brought it to the kitchen counter. She took out the fresh ingredients Blaise had bought and started washing the vegetables, then chopping it.

"You can cook?" Blaise asked, sliding into the chair in front of Blair.

"Not really, just simple meals. Thank you again for the ingredients, they're really fresh."

"Oh course they are, they better be if I'm paying €30 for carrots."

"Are you hungry? Would you like some?"

"It depends what you're making."

"I'm making Arroz Con Pollo."

"Er… no thanks," Blaise said, making a face.

"It means rice with chicken, it's Spanish."

"Oh. Still, no thanks, I don't eat carbs."

Calista suppressed a laugh. "Okay...do you want me to make you a salad, then?"

"Ooh, okay. No dressing though. And could I have a coffee? This hangover's a bitch."

Calista flicked her wand at the Espresso machine, which started with a hum and filled up a cup.

Another flick and the cup sailed towards Blaise and landed smoothly on the counter.

"Thanks," Blaise said, taking a sip. "Hey, could you do something for me?"

"What?" Calista asked, not looking up from the onion she was chopping.

"Take off your disguise. I want to see what you really look like."

Calista reached for her wand and waved it over herself just as the front door clicked open and Draco strolled in.

"Hey Blaise, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you about my new job as personal grocery shopper?" Blaise replied, looking back at Calista. He arched his eyebrows and turned back to Draco. "Nice, mate. I can see why you love her," he whispered.

Draco rolled his eyes, and took a seat at the counter next to him.

"So, how did your plan go?" Calista asked, scooping up the onions and dumping it in a pot.

"What plan?" Blaise asked.

"I was following Astoria."

"Oh, really?" Blaise said sarcastically. "What was she up to? Hiring more assassins to murder our arses?"

"I have no idea. She just went to a hotel and drove off in a vintage Aston Martin."

"Normal goings-on in a day of a bitch," Blaise commented.

"That's enough," Draco said. He turned back to Calista.

"What are you cooking? Smells good..."

End chp 13


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It was raining heavily in Marseilles, Calista was cuddled up in bed with a book, reading contently. There was a sudden tap on the window, Calista turned her head and saw a poor eagle owl drenched in rain. A letter, obviously charmed to be water proof, was tied to its leg. Once she opened the window, the owl swopped in and perched itself on top of the fireplace. Extending it's leg, Calista took the letter and opened it. Scanning the letter quickly, she quickly took her coat and called for Draco.

"We have to go, now, quick!" Calista said.

"Why?" She tossed Draco the letter, which turned out to be from Blaise.

"Argh, this better be real good, it's freaking cold and raining!" Draco complained, taking his cloak and following Calista out off the hotel.

They arrived 20 minutes later, in front of a small café, where Blaise told them to meet him. Draco stepped out of the cab and looked around him, he became a little suspicious when he found the little café to be exactly in front of the hotel he followed Astoria to a few days ago.

Entering the café, they saw Blaise sitting at the back where it was most secluded, with a cup of hot coffee and a pissed-off look on his face.

Looking up, Blaise saw Draco and Calista, and the frown on his face deepened.

"You better have a really, really, and I mean _really_, good reason for dragging me out of my five-star comfortable hotel room on this shitty day to this retarded old coffee shop with _no_ heater or fireplace," Blaise said.

Draco looked at Blaise oddly. "You were the one who told us to come here, you said you have something important to tell us about Astoria," Draco said in a hushed tone, sitting down beside Blaise.

"I did?"

"Didn't you?" Calista asked, growing worried.

"No. I got an owl from you two asking me to meet you here...but now I'm realising we just fell for the oldest trick in the book?" Blaise said, slowly standing up.

Draco glanced outside quickly at the hotel across the road, then back at Calista and Blaise.

"Oh my god, we have to get out of here," he said, grabbing Calista's arm.

"Wait...what? Draco, what's going on?" Calista asked.

"I'll explain later, just move!"

Draco shoved his way through the restaurant, dragging Calista with him, Blaise right behind them. He reached the glass door and pushed it open, stumbling out onto the street. A shout came from inside just as Blaise escaped, and a deafening explosion sounded as the café disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and flames.

Blaise, who just made it out, got up shakily from the pavement, and looked at Draco.

"Holy fuck," he breathed. "What the hell just happened?"

Draco shook his head. "Are you okay?"

Blaise ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, just."

Calista turned to Draco. "We should get out of here. The Ministry might be here soon."

Draco turned, surveying the crowd that had gathered around. A siren sounded in the distance. Through the crowds and debris, Draco saw a pale grey 1957 Aston Martin DB drive off through the crowded streets. He quickly pushed through the crowd toward the street. Calista and Blaise exchanged a confused look and followed him. Draco reached a car parked by the pavement, and drew his wand, unlocking the door and sliding into the driver's seat.

"Get in!" he ordered, and Calista and Blaise hurriedly dove into the back seat.

Draco started the ignition and stepped on the accelerator, taking off after the grey car.

Astoria turned away from the window and looked at Oreste.

"Are you telling me we've been reduced to using Muggle means?" Oreste hissed in a threatening tone.

"We have no choice. This has to end now, and I took whatever means were available, Muggle or not," Astoria replied in an icy voice.

"And a bomb is the best way to end this?"

"It's clean, it's fast, it won't be traced back to us. Yes, I believe it's the best," Astoria replied, strolling over to the window and looking down at the café across the road. "It has been magically modified so it'll explode as soon as it sensors their magical signatures."

"Which should be any minute now," Oreste replied tersely, as he watched a couple enter the café.

They stood in tense silence by the window for a couple of minutes.

"What's going on?" Astoria murmured anxiously, glancing at her watch. "It should be..."

"Wait! Look..." Oreste replied gruffly.

They watched in horror as three figures burst out of the café just as it exploded.

"Fuck! He knows, he must!" Astoria whispered, expression turning panicked.

"Get to the car. Quickly!" Oreste barked.

Draco tailed the grey car as closely as he could, but it was rather difficult with many people running around in panic due to the bomb, and traffic was starting to form.

"Shit! We're losing her," Draco exclaimed.

"Just get us close enough," Blaise said. Draco looked at him inquiringly.

"Just trust me on this, ok?" Draco sped up the car and got them as close as he could.

"Close enough?"

"Perfect," Blaise said, he then rolled down the car window and took out his wand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Calista cried.

"Reducto!" Blaise shouted, bright sparks shot through his wand and Draco watched wide eyed as the car in front of him was blasted into the air. The car rolled over in mid-air once before crashing down.

"What the fuck, Blaise?" Draco stopped the car and turned around to scowl at Blaise, but Blaise had already thrown the door open and was running towards the other car. Draco cursed and followed his best friend out, Calista in tow.

The door of the Aston Martin was suddenly blown away and out came Astoria Greengrass, looking only slightly disheveled. What made them stop dead in their tracks was the person who came out next after Astoria.

"I knew it," Blaise whispered vehemently before running towards the pair.

Oreste quickly grabbed Astoria by her upper arm and dragged her towards an empty park, his bodyguards following them. They threw spells at Draco, Calista and Blaise, but they skillfully dodged them before throwing their own spells which took down the bodyguards easily. Calista turned on the spot with a loud crack and she appeared instantly in front of Oreste and Astoria.

"I think you should stop now," Calista said.

"You sick old bastard, you just tried to kill me!" Blaise screamed as soon as he caught up with Oreste and Astoria.

"Merely the pot calling the kettle black," Oreste replied coolly, sneering impressively despite the circumstances.

Blaise raised his wand and tried to send his grandfather the killing curse when Draco caught his hand.

"Don't. If you kill him now, you'll go to Azkaban, Blaise."

"I'm going there anyway if they find out I've been plotting to kill him," Blaise hissed.

"No, you won't, they won't be able to find any proof, but if you kill him now, the Aurors will be able to point fingers at you." Blaise glared at Draco before he reluctantly lowered his wand.

Draco shifted his gaze from his best friend to his fiancée, who was clearly still in shock.

"Astoria...all this...for what?" he asked.

Draco glanced quickly at Calista, who was putting up protective spells around the park to prevent Muggles from looking in. Both Blaise and Oreste had their wands trained on each other, but they weren't doing anything yet.

He looked back to Astoria, who laughed hollowly, without humour.

"Oh, Draco. You just don't understand. You belong to no one but me," she said quietly, her eyes taking on a mad glint. "And you dare to choose her!"

She lifted her wand, pointing to Calista, who was standing next to Draco.

He moved forward half a step, holding out an arm in front of Calista.

"Astoria, please. We can work this out. It doesn't have to be like this," he said, calmly but firmly.

She stepped closer, her wand shaking slightly.

Draco tried the last tactic that always worked. "Astoria, I love you. Put your wand down."

She turned sharply to him, her green eyes blazing. "You love me? You've never loved me, you fucking bastard! You've only loved her!"

Aiming carefully at Calista, Astoria cried out, "Avada Kedavra!"

Draco, frozen in place, saw a flicker of movement in his peripheral vision, and a dark shape dove past him and in front of Calista. The jet of green light hit Blaise squarely in the chest and he crumpled to the floor.

Astoria, eyes wide and shaking violently, lowered her wand and backed up to a tree, sliding to the ground. Calista, reacting quickly and cleverly, moved past and trained her wand on Oreste, who was staring, shocked, at Blaise lying motionless on the ground.

Draco dropped to his knees, and grasped Blaise's shirt. "No, Blaise!"

Blaise smirked fleetingly and his brown eyes sparkled. "Take care of her, Draco. I don't just die for anyone, you know..."

"No...you can't..."

Draco felt Blaise breathe shallowly once before his eyes slid close, his body lifeless on the ground.

Hardly believing what was happening, Draco slowly let go of Blaise's shirt, when he heard a gruff voice from behind him.

"Avada-,"

"Pasvis Mourra!" Blair's voice came, and Draco turned just in time to see Oreste fall to the floor.

Calista lowered her wand and caught Draco's eye. "It's the least I can do for him," she said softly, her gaze moving to Blaise's body.

Draco nodded once, before slowly standing up, and they both turned to look at Astoria, who was still on the ground, leaning against the tree, shuddering.

Astoria looked up and saw the disappointment in Draco's eyes and she instantly burst into tears.

"I-I love you, I love you so much! We were supposed to be together, we are meant to be together! Ever since we were little, ever since you first taught me how to ride my broom."

"Astoria-"

"Why? Why would you do this to me? Why do you try so hard to make me hate you?"

"Astoria, I love you like a little sister. But Calista and I…well, I lo-"

"Shut up! Hearing it once is enough, I don't want to hear anymore!" Astoria screamed, covering her ears with her hands and for a second she looked like a lost little girl. Draco could only look at her sadly; he couldn't do anything to ease her pain.

"Draco," Calista whispered urgently, and Draco turned to look at her. "The Aurors are coming, we have to go."

"No, I need to need to make sure Astoria's okay."

Calista nodded silently, and began dismantling the wards.

"Just make up some cover story," Draco said. Calista nodded again distractedly.

He turned back to Astoria. She looked up at him, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, Draco," she whispered. "For everything."

He closed his eyes and nodded. "I'm sorry too."

End chp 14. 


	15. Epilogue

Epilogue

Draco sat, rather slumped, on the sofa in S's office, he was really not looking forward to explaining what had happened to his boss, however, he knew it was inevitable. From the corner of his eye he could see S standing to his left, gazing out through his office window to the busy city.

"What happened, Draco? I thought I made it clear to you that I didn't want you participating in your friend's plan to kill Oreste Zabini," S said calmly.

"Yes, you did," Draco said tiredly.

" I had to pull many strings to get you and Calista out of that mess you caused and, honestly speaking , the only reason you are still here, not rotting away somewhere in Azkaban or St. Mungo's, is because you happen to be one of my best assassins. So, what really happened in Marseilles?"

Draco sighed. "As you know, the Tuer Academy was targeting Calista and I, so we decided to go there to gather some information, I didn't lie to you about that part."

"Which part did you lie to me about?"

"I didn't listen to you and pursued to continue the plan to kill Oreste Zabini."

"And you succeeded, didn't you? Or Calista succeeded, more accurately. Oreste Zabini is dead now and all his fortune is going to charity."

"That wasn't how the plan was supposed to go," Draco mumbled.

"So, what went wrong? Why was Miss Greengrass and the Aurors suddenly involved? I thought someone like you would be able to keep it clean."

"It turns out, Oreste and Astoria were the one who sent Tuer Academy after Calista and I. Astoria somehow found out about…about Blaise's plan and she told Oreste. She normally wouldn't have, we were close friends, but I had hurt her so I supposed she wanted revenge. They plotted together, Oreste would supply the money and Astoria would be the one doing the dirty work, coming into contact with Tuer Academy and making the deals. It all went down in Marseilles and we, Calista, Blaise and I, were caught off guard, that's why everything was so screwed up."

S turned away from the window and faced Draco. "I see."

He strolled towards his desk and picked up a newspaper, handing it to Draco. "I did everything I could to cover up this mess, but I couldn't prevent the Prophet from printing this."

Draco glanced down at the front page, which featured a picture of himself and Astoria taken over a year ago, on the day of their engagement. Above that was the bold headline 'Malfoy-Greengrass Wedding Cancelled: Astoria Greengrass admitted to St. Mungo's Mental Ward.'

Draco folded up the newspaper, not wanting to read the article, and looked up at S.

"Is there anything else?"

S shook his head. "That should be all. Is there somewhere you need to be?"

"Yes," Draco replied, standing up. "I apologise for everything, S."

S sighed, and showed Draco to the door. "It's my job," he said wearily.

Draco was halfway out of the office when S spoke again. "Why don't you and Blair take a couple of days off? I think you could use with the rest."

Draco looked back and nodded, smiling slightly.

Two figures dressed in black stood in the empty graveyard, the cold wind blowing around them.

Draco gazed down at his best friend's tombstone that he'd had custom made, while Calista conjured up a wreath of white lilies and levitated it gently onto the ground.

The dark granite tombstone was embellished with a silver Slytherin crest, and beneath that read:

_Blaise Zabini_

_1980-2005_

_A__lterius non sit qui suus __esse__ potest._

They stood in silence for a few minutes before Calista spoke.

"Did you see Astoria today?"

After a slight pause, Draco replied quietly. "No. I'm...not ready, yet."

"Okay," Calista said, and Draco knew she understood.

Draco's mobile phone beeped suddenly, disturbing the quiet. At the same time, both Draco's and Calista's necklaces burned hot and then cold, and they both reached up simultaneously to grip the silver cross within the circle.

Calista glanced at Draco, frowning slightly in confusion, while he flipped open his mobile and read the message.

'_Sorry, holiday's over. Got a new case, and I need my two best assassins. Report to HQ ASAP. S.'_

Draco grinned and held out the phone for Calista, who smiled as she read it.

"Well?" he asked.

"I think it's time to get back to work," she replied.

Draco took a deep breath and exhaled, glancing down at the tombstone.

"We'll be back, Blaise."

Calista turned to Draco and smiled mischievously. "Race you to the car."

She turned and took off down the small grassy path.

"Hey, no fair!" Draco exclaimed, running after her, and their breathless laughs broke the cold, silent air.

THE END.


End file.
